In regard to the article below, having lived and worked both in the UK and in numerous countries overseas, I can see benefits in both. However increasingly the pull or perhaps push is a better word to move overseas again is growing. With a benefits system that is abused by many and failing genuine hard-working people such as myself who have the misfortune to be made redundant, combined with a very high cost of living which is rising at a scary rate (in the past few days British Gas has announced the price of their gas is to up by 35% and fuel prices have risen by more than 30% in the past six months from which we will soon begin to see knock-on effects in the price of food) why would people think twice??
Family is really the only tying factor – yes I love the British countryside and the wonderful quaint village pubs – but if I am faced with the decision to put myself in a position where I can save for my retirement (I certainly don’t see me getting benefit from the state when I retire) or not, and faced with the choice of living in a place where I can plan a week or two in advance to have a barbeque or a picnic without fear of being rained on, the choice of living in a country where I can enjoy speaking in a foreign language to new and interesting people or living in a place where I don’t feel comfortable walking in town at night, the choice of eating a varied and healthy diet or eating oven meals….I can see why so many people are looking overseas, particularly when they can earn more money too. The article below states that almost 70 percent said they felt healthier living abroad.
As I said the only real tying factor is family and when your parents begin to spend half the year living overseas also – it makes you think long and hard… here is the article..
LONDON (Reuters) – British professionals could earn an average 40 percent more by relocating abroad, research shows.
The average professional expatriate earns 67,000 pounds, compared to a UK average of 47,000 pounds — 42.6 percent less, according to NatWest International.
Its “wealth ranking survey”, undertaken with the Centre of Future Studies think-tank, shows that the United Arab Emirates tops the charts, with professionals netting an average annual salary of 79,000 pounds.
Even Portugal, at the lower end, comes in with a respectable average annual wage of 58,000 pounds.
However, when the cost of living is taken into account Spain (with an average expat salary of 65,000 pounds) and Italy (76,000 pounds) jumped up the table.
David Isley, head of personal banking at NatWest International, said: “The wage packets of expats are very encouraging for people who are looking to move abroad.
“People who are willing to move abroad not only benefit from bigger earnings in countries such as Spain and Italy, but also have the advantage of a lower cost of living.”
Overall, 68 percent of those surveyed found that the cost of living abroad to be lower than in the UK, which lead to 90 percent considering themselves financially better off.
Almost 70 percent also said they felt healthier living abroad.
Isley said: “Expats who have moved abroad appear to be wealthier, healthier and happier and all these factors have contributed to a better quality of life.
“It seems as if expats have not only found their pot of gold abroad, but are able to enjoy themselves and feel healthier for having made the move.”
The global survey also revealed the countries with the highest proportion of Britons working in certain occupations.
Canada had the most engineers, medical personnel, academics and teachers. IT professionals seemed to flock to Sweden; economists and accountants to Singapore; scientists to New Zealand; financial services workers to the UAE; and marketing and sales professionals to Portugal.
The research looked at expats in the following ten countries: Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the UAE.
A total of 1,399 expats were surveyed. The report was also based on a range of data including figures from the Office for National Statistics, International Passenger Survey, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Values Survey.
(Editing by Astrid Zweynert) © Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved.
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Filed under: General ponderings.. | Tagged: Expat life
I agree Expats generall earn more and can save. However you have to consider the salary in the context of cost of living. My view is that exchange rates give misleading salary comparisons because they do not reflect salary purchasing power differences. Exchange rates are volatile as they are based on short-term factors and are subject to substantial distortions from speculative movements and government interventions. Salary Purchasing Power Parity (SPPP) is the rate of salary purchasing power given the relative cost of the same basket of goods at the exchange rate versus one US Dollar. SPPP conversions allow cross-country comparisons of salary levels free of salary survey market and exchange rate distortions. You can get an accurate SPPP comparison of your equivalent salary in another country using http://www.xpatulator.com