When getting into arguments with other people about why we have a brain drain of educated youngsters, one often encounters the objection that even if wages are higher in the developed world cities these youngsters often escape to, the cost of living there is higher too, so it’s financially a wash for them to go there. Not so. Take a gander at UBS’s March 2008 survey (pdf) on purchasing power in cities around the globe. They sampled wages from 14 different professions, weighted each profession according to its share in overall employment and gender, used uniform criteria with respect to age, work experience, and so on. Normalizing wage levels so that New York City’s is 100, wages in Singapore were measured at 37.4 gross and 45.0 net (after taxes and so on). A sampling of other cities: Hong Kong, 27.8 gross, 35.4 net; Kuala Lumpur, 17.8 gross, 17.8 net; Shanghai, 13.6 gross, 15.5 net; London, 102.2 gross, 110.0 net; Los Angeles, 86.1 gross, 96.7 net; Copenhagen, 140.9 gross, 114.1 net.

For prices, they used a shopping basket of 122 goods and services. Admittedly, these were geared to ‘Western European consumer habits’, so they might be somewhat inaccurate as a representation of living costs in other regions. When rent is included, Singapore comes in at 85.9 to NYC’s 100. Without rent, it’s 70.5. A sampling of other cities: Hong Kong, 81.3 with rent, 72.3 without; Kuala Lumpur, 40.5 with rent, 31.0 without; Shanghai, 55.2 with rent, 43.2 without; London, 125.9 with rent, 120.2 without; Los Angeles, 91.7 with rent, 80.8 without; Copenhagen, 129.8 with rent, 102.6 without.

The final, most interesting breakdown is for hourly pay normalized to purchasing power. Again using NYC as the 100 level, Singapore comes in at 53.1 for gross hourly pay and 63.9 for net hourly pay. That is, in general, a worker in Singapore earns about 60% as much in terms of consumption power as someone with the same job and qualifications in NYC. Other cities: Hong Kong, 38.4 gross, 48.9 net; Kuala Lumpur, 57.5 gross, 68.7 net; Shanghai, 31.5 gross, 35.8 net; London, 85.0 gross, 91.5 net; Los Angeles, 106.6 gross, 119.8 net; Copenhagen, 137.4 gross, 111.3 net. Singapore ranked behind every single city surveyed in Western Europe, North America, and Oceania.