Thursday, August 20, 2009

Purchasing power: An alternative Big Mac index

According to the August 20, 2009 Economist.com article "Purchasing power: An alternative Big Mac index," an average worker in Chicago, Toronto, or Tokyo earns enough income in 12 minutes to be able to buy a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger. In the rest of the world, workers must labor for longer periods of time to be able to afford one:
How many minutes to earn the price of a Big Mac?

THE size of your pay packet may be important, but so is its purchasing power. Helpfully, a UBS report published this week offers a handy guide to how long it takes a worker on the average net wage to earn the price of a Big Mac in 73 cities. Fast-food junkies are best off in Chicago, Toronto and Tokyo, where it takes a mere 12 minutes at work to afford a Big Mac. By contrast, employees must toil for over two hours to earn enough for a burger fix in Mexico City, Jakarta and Nairobi.

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