Sofia residents work for $ 2.60 per hour

Working residents of large cities in Western Europe receive on average three times higher wages than their counterparts in Eastern Europe, says the annual report of the Prices and Earnings Swiss bank UBS. According to the study of banking experts, the lowest wages in Europe in Sofia and Bucharest, which in turn is comparable to that received by workers in the capitals of Colombia and Thailand. Employed in South American and African capitals are the only lower our wages. Zurich, Geneva and New York occupy the first three places in the charge. In Sofia, the Bulgarians receive one quarter of the hourly and annual pay of their colleagues in New York. About 1 hours work in Sofia employees receive a clean 2.60 dollars, while in Bucharest – 2.90 dollars. In Zurich the hourly pay of most Gholam – 22.60 dollars, followed by Geneva with 20.40 dollars in New York – 19 dollars.
As we know, however, wages do not give a clear picture of living standards. More importantly what you can buy with their income, ie what is the purchasing power of money in your pocket. And this is reflected not only the prices of goods in different markets, but the taxes that reduce disposable income, but also depends on what the complete „basket“ you.
The tax burden as Sofia is on 14 place with 25 percent of their income, dividing position with Athens, Helsinki, Istanbul, Miami, Toronto, Vienna and Zurich. Working hours per year of Sofia citizens were 1993 (48 hours per week) in 1830 on average for Eastern Europe and 1745 – for western countries.
The bottom line, unfortunately, Bulgaria remains at the bottom of the European charts – both gross and net incomes and standard of living. The study used data for Sofia, which shows that the country will compare more favorably (in the capital, however, not only prices but also ahead of average earnings for the country). Basket used by UBS, it cost 2670 dollars in major Western European cities. In the eastern its price was 40% lower. In Sofia it worth 1558 dollars, or 52.5 percent of the West. And a curious fact of our basket: high prices of gasoline in Sofia was only on 23 place, nothing that the other indicators chasing the bottom, but in Europe and gasoline prices are highest, and among European capital cities we place on 20 on this indicator.
UBS, in its study compared data of 73 capitals and major cities in the world, are the statistical vklyuchenii 122 basket of goods and services typical of West European way of life. In its report, the experts compare prices, income, income taxes, working hours and leave allotment for 14 different professions. The data used in the study were from April and May 2009