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Strategies & Market Trends : HONG KONG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ---------- who wrote (1356)	2/18/1998 10:12:00 AM
From: Richard Tsang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2951

Doug, I am glad to hear of the greater than expected surplus in HK. Interesting observation on the salary comparison and I agree that there is little meaning in comparing salaries between locations unless you are making a move and want to know the impact on your standard of living in the new location. Try this site. It calculates the salary needed in the new location to maintain your current purchasing power at home country. www2.homefair.com As for comparison of competitiveness, which I think is what Chen tries to get across, there is truth to first looking at the salary levels of the workforce, among many other things such as office rental, communications and other infrastructure, the efficiency of the workforce, etc. These are the key considerations for potential investors in the location...just like the fundamentals we look at each companies we invest in. RT

To: ---------- who wrote (1356)	2/18/1998 10:38:00 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2951

Doug: very good point about the comparisons of salaries among dif. countries. For example, here in the States, for most people, 1/3 of one's salary goes to tax, 1/3 goes to rent or mortgage payment, and the rest of the pay for the food and other expenses, not much left for the saving, not to mention you will be taxed on the interest from saving. In China, tax is non-existence for most of the salaried people, rent is only around 5% of one's pay (although most of apartments are smaller and much poorer equipped by the US standard), but food are really expensive, usually cost at least 50% of one's pay, if not more. But still a lot of people can manage save around 30% of their pay for the big ticket items, like computer, high-quality of stereo equipment, things like that, or for the raining day. Chinese won't pay tax on the interest of their savings. I am not arguing about the fact that China is still a very poor country, and the living standard is much lower for most of the people compared with developed countries. But considering the huge difference between the salary structures, it leaves little meaning to compare the absolute value of salaries. Good luck