Dublin staff among highest paid - study

Dublin-based employees have the fourth highest net wages after New York, Geneva and Zurich, according to a new cost of living study from Swiss bank UBS.

The bank examined 73 international cities in its Prices and Earnings report for 2009 and ranked Dublin the 10th-most expensive place to live, down two places from its ranking in the last study three years ago.

Net wages, or the remaining income after taxes and social security contributions, provides a guide to purchasing power.

In that year UBS noted while European net earnings were significantly below disposable incomes in America, “one noteworthy exception to this trend is Ireland, which has relatively low payroll taxes”.

This year average hourly earnings in Dublin were $18.70 (€14.30) according to the survey, which also ranks Dublin residents fourth in terms of their net purchasing power.

An example of this purchasing power can be seen from a comparison of how many hours an employee must work to purchase an item available in all the cities in the survey, an iPod nano (8GB).

Dublin residents have to work for just 10 hours to afford this item with only employees in New York or Sydney having to work less. Employees in Mumbai have to work the longest number of hours to pay for such an item, at 177.

It takes Dublin employees just 15 minutes to earn enough to buy another ubiquitous item, the Big Mac.

Food costs in Dublin are the 10th highest with average family spending $474 (€364) per month on a basket of 39 food items.

On average workers paid 21 per cent in tax and social welfare contributions in the cities surveyed. In Dublin workers paid just 15 per cent compared to an average deduction of 27.6 per cent in western European cities.

Employees spend an average of 1,745 hours per year at work in Western Europe with those based in Dublin working 1,807 hours annually.

According to the UBS survey employees now work an average of 58 hours more per year than in 2006, in part due to the inclusion of Doha and Cairo into the study.

Irish staff have an average of 21 paid days annual leave, on top of Bank Holidays, compared to an average of 25 in Western Europe. In the US and Asia employees receive between ten and 12 paid holidays.

The survey found little evidence of price convergence despite the enlargement of the EU in 2004 and the adoption by Slovenia and Slovakia of the Euro.

UBS said a standard basket of 95 goods and 27 services remains approximately 35 per cent cheaper in eastern European cities than those in Western Europe.

Among the job types surveyed were school teacher, bus driver, mechanic, and engineer.