One needs to work over 360 hours to earn enough to buy an iPhone 6 in the national capital, but the same requires just 20 hours of work in Zurich, a new purchasing power study shows.
According to UBS’ Prices and Earnings 2015 report, which compares the purchasing power in 71 cities across the globe, people in Delhi need to work for 360.3 hours to afford an iPhone 6 – the third highest in the world. Another Indian city Mumbai comes fifth with 349.4 hours.
The report considered staple consumer goods like McDonald’s Big Mac and Apple iPhone, as these products are of the same quality and nature worldwide, making their prices and affordability comparable, UBS said. According to the Swiss banking major, wage levels indicate earnings worldwide.
As per the report, if one takes net hourly pay as the benchmark, two Indian cities – New Delhi and Mumbai – were among the bottom ten exhibiting the lowest purchasing power.
However, Indians seem to be partially compensating for low purchasing power through longer working hours.
In New Delhi, workers slog for 2,214 hours per year and have only 26 days of holiday annually, while in Mumbai it was 2,277 hours per year and 21 days leave annually. Meanwhile, on average, workers worldwide spend over 40 hours per week at their workplace and receive over 4.5 weeks of paid vacation.
Hong Kong tops the list in terms of working hours as the average working hours in that city is over 50 per week, with only 17 days of holiday annually, while in Paris, people work only around 35 hours per week (in line with new government regulations) and have 29 days of paid vacation, the report said.
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