Moving up two places from last year, Dublin is the Eurozone’s only climber in a new cost of living report for expatriated workers.
The findings, compiled in Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey, show how the Irish capital rose to 49th spot, while other major cities that use the euro – including Madrid, Rome and Brussels (dropping more than 50 spots) – tumbled down the table.
The reason for the fall off in most eurozone cities is due to the bad exchange rate between the euro and the dollar at the moment, with the US money the base currency of the report.
However a rise in the cost of rental accommodation saw Dublin buck the trend, costing foreign workers significantly more overall.
“The main criteria for the Cost of Living report is the cost of rental accommodation,” explains Noel O’Connor, a senior consultant at Mercer, which “reflects the growth of the economy” and the “continuing high levels of FDI”.
Dublin cost of living catching up
The other elements taken into consideration, of which there are many, include transport, food, clothing and entertainment.
When it was suggested that major international IT companies based around Dublin’s docks tend to recruit from abroad, with those wages perhaps influencing the table, O’Connor is quick to point out the geographical situation for companies you may not think of at first.
“Look at the Kerry Group,” he says, explaining that many workers in the company’s Naas site may commute from the Irish capital.
O’Connor also suspects that, were the euro to bounce back against the dollar, Dublin will shoot up the table next year.
Zurich (3) was the highest ranking European city, with Geneva (5) Bern (9) and London (12) the only others in a top 20 lead, once again, by Luanda in Angola.
Dublin image, via Shutterstock
