These are the most costly locations to work overseas in 2022

Hong Kong has be named the most costly metropolis by which to dwell and work abroad this 12 months, based on a brand new report which highlights the impression of rising residing prices and worsening macroeconomic developments on the expatriate market.

The town rose one place in Mercer’s 2022 Cost of Living index to regain pole place after being bumped to second place in 2021 by Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It marks the fourth time in 5 years that the Asian monetary hub has been ranked as the most expensive location for abroad employees.

Hong Kong’s resurgence was pushed partially by rising inflationary pressures, which have pushed residing prices increased throughout the globe. In the meantime, ongoing Covid restrictions and elevated political volatility have made it costlier to compensate employees who’re posted there, Mercer associate Vince Cordova informed CNBC Make It.

“A part of it’s the actual property market,” stated Cordova, noting that fascinating lodging has now grow to be costlier, pushing up the price of expat packages.

“The opposite half is the price of items and companies and likewise the political uncertainty. The people who find themselves going to be there might want to spend extra to dwell effectively,” he stated.

The town was bumped 13 locations within the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2022 final week, amid what the EIU cited as its lack of political and cultural freedom.

Hong Kong was the Asian outlier in a prime 5 dominated by Swiss cities in Mercer’s 2022 Value of Residing index: Zurich, Switzerland ranked because the world’s second costliest metropolis for abroad employees, adopted by Geneva (third), Basel (4th) and Bern (fifth).

Cordova stated that was because of the energy of the Swiss franc, which has, till lately, held regular in opposition to a rising U.S. greenback, the benchmark forex in Mercer’s report.

Mercer’s annual price of residing index, now in its twenty eighth 12 months, is designed to assist corporations and governments decide pay packages for expatriate workers by measuring lodging prices and the worth of products and companies inside native markets in opposition to their relative price in New York Metropolis.

This 12 months’s index ranked 227 cities and took under consideration the costs of greater than 200 objects — from classes reminiscent of meals, transportation, housing and private care — as of March 2022.

Not like earlier years, Cordova stated, the 2022 report additionally famous the rising prevalence of distant work, with extra corporations utilizing it as a instrument when deciding their versatile working insurance policies.

“One of many penalties of the pandemic was this idea of labor from wherever, with extra workers now asking employers if they’ll assist that,” he stated.

“Firms now need some info on what the financial impression of that relocation can be, and that is how we’re seeing mobility develop,” he added.

Here is a rundown of the ten costliest cities for expats, based on Mercer’s findings. 

1. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR)
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Basel, Switzerland
5. Bern, Switzerland
6. Tel Aviv, Israel
7. New York Metropolis, United States
8. Singapore, Singapore
9. Tokyo, Japan
10. Beijing, China

Ankara, Turkey (227th) ranked because the least costly metropolis to work overseas, adopted by Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (226th), Dushanbe, Tajikistan (225th), Islamabad, Pakistan (224th) and Karachi, Pakistan (223rd).

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