How do salaries compare to London

RT666 · #1 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 09:23 PM

Sorry if this has been asked before (had a look on the search but couldn't find anything).

I know that salaries can vary massively - hence most job adverts not giving a salary - but in general how would a salary compare to a London salary?

My husband works in London (city-type job) and is relatively well paid. His job is fairly specialist, so not likely to be done by people from less well paid countries. However, because it's specialist there aren't loads of jobs around to compare it to, so we wanted to find out whether we're looking at more, less or about the same as his current gross salary. (He's good at negotiating - he got a 50% pay rise from his previous company to the existing one...!)

Any thoughts appreciated!

TandA · #2 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 09:43 PM

How do they compare? On a like for like basis?

Well I'm moving from Germany to UAE and I've been offered around a 50% increase.

And I don't have to pay tax.

My job is rather specialised too....

RT666 · #3 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TandA

How do they compare? On a like for like basis?

Well I'm moving from Germany to UAE and I've been offered around a 50% increase.

And I don't have to pay tax.

My job is rather specialised too....

He's not applied for any jobs yet. Just trying to figure out what sort of figure he should give when they ask what salary he's looking for....!

noisyboy · #4 (**permalink**) 5th July 2012, 09:59 PM

I think it would be a GREAT idea if you let us know of his specialization. Maybe then someone can give you a more concrete answer.

RT666 · #5 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noisyboy

I think it would be a GREAT idea if you let us know of his specialization. Maybe then someone can give you a more concrete answer.

Bit reluctant to do this as I don't know if anyone he works with is on this forum. We're in early stages of looking at relocating so haven't mentioned it to anyone in real life yet. He basically works for a company who designs bespoke financial data tools for banks, liaising between the client and the developer. So lots of financial data knowledge, writing product specs etc. Fairly transferrable skills within banking/finance area.

Mr Rossi · #6 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 08:11 AM

Stay in London, his skill set will deteriorate here as it's a third world country and believe it or not it's far more stressful living here than London.

If you must move Singapore or Hong Kong?

RT666 · #7 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Rossi

Stay in London, his skill set will deteriorate here as it's a third world country and believe it or not it's far more stressful living here than London.

If you must move Singapore or Hong Kong?

He's not planning to go back to do the same job afterwards so it's not too much of an issue what happens to his skill set (and he's one of those annoying people that doesn't get stressed!) Our main reason for moving is so he can see our children during the week as currently he commutes 5 hours a day to go to work (leaves before they wake up, home after they're in bed) so it's more for a quality of life than career advancement if that makes sense? (Our eldest spent last year being treated by Great Ormond Street and wasn't expected to live, so our priorities have changed slightly after all that). We'd also like to be able to save some money so when we come back we can start our own business up, hence wanting a rough idea of equivalent salary.

I really like both Singapore and HK but Dubai is preferable due to distance from the UK, plus from what I've heard from other people Singapore wages aren't great and holiday allowance is small?

Mr Rossi · #8 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 09:18 AM

Medical care costs through the nose and is substandard as is schooling. Both are run as 100% businesses, you and your family are nothing but a commodity. Apart from petrol, living costs are also much higher here making it difficult to save.

As flawed as it is, it's only when you are out here you realise how much of a blessing income tax, NI, the national health, state schooling actually is.

Finally many westerners are expected to work 60 hours+ in return for their high salaries. Yes this statement will open up a flood of posts from people saying they leave dead on 6 but for many more it's a 10-12 hour day.

Not trying to put you off but rather give you the facts, Dubai is a city of severe sacrifices - the beach tires quiet quickly - and unless you are being seriously remunerated for these sacrifices then it's really not worth it.

ziokendo · #9 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Rossi

unless you are being seriously remunerated for these sacrifices then it's really not worth it.

We can talk as much as we like about what is good here and what not and argue about schools and healthcare in the UK (...), as well as the skill set that you are going to develop in this business environment compared to the one you will develop working in the west, but in the end the sentence quoted above is the whole point, I believe.

Very few people would've moved here just for the sake of adventure or because they like living at 45°C, but when you are being remunerated 2x or 3 times more than in your home country then you are able to see the good things shining brighter ...

RT666 · #10 (**permalink**) 6th July 2012, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Rossi

Medical care costs through the nose and is substandard as is schooling. Both are run as 100% businesses, you and your family are nothing but a commodity. Apart from petrol, living costs are also much higher here making it difficult to save.

As flawed as it is, it's only when you are out here you realise how much of a blessing income tax, NI, the national health, state schooling actually is.

Finally many westerners are expected to work 60 hours+ in return for their high salaries. Yes this statement will open up a flood of posts from people saying they leave dead on 6 but for many more it's a 10-12 hour day.

Not trying to put you off but rather give you the facts, Dubai is a city of severe sacrifices - the beach tires quiet quickly - and unless you are being seriously remunerated for these sacrifices then it's really not worth it.

Thank you. It's good to hear both negatives and positives when making a decision like this. At home we pay school fees (or will be from next September) which are comparable if not more expensive than in Dubai. We use private medical in the UK too (other than obviously A&E and GP) so unfortunately don't get much advantage from the vast amounts of income tax being paid.

We'd like a different experience for us and the children - there's no guarantee of how long our eldest will be fit and healthy for (he is completely better now, but as the 4th recorded children's case worldwide of his type of illness there's no guarantee on long term prognosis) and we want to take advantage of any opportunities we can.

One of the main things is to try and save some money to take back when we return to the UK and for my husband to see his children more than just at weekends. He's currently away from home from 5.30am until 8.30pm - often getting home later - so even a 10 hour day would be a step up from that. However, we're not making any decision until we've got all our figures etc sorted.

Thanks again for your feedback - really helpful