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Engineers Pay, world wide

J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
UBS have updated their survey

http://www.ubs.com/e/media_overview/media_switzerland/archive/200308/20030819a.html

a couple of pdfs at the bottom
see page 41 on "prices and earnings" for engineers




martin

We guarantee that "Watching Paint Dry" will be at least as interesting as the other reality shows"
said Nick Thorogood, UKTV head of lifestyle.

Pretty useless data.

Only three US cities listed... none of which qualify as a major center
for EE employment.

No adjustments for cost of living at that city. (For example, as I
pointed out in a post several days ago, in Phoenix it costs roughly
1/2 of what it costs to live in Lexington, MA, or Cupertino, CA. And
the cost of living is even cheaper in Austin, TX.)

...Jim Thompson
 
M

martin griffith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Pretty useless data.

Only three US cities listed... none of which qualify as a major center
for EE employment.

No adjustments for cost of living at that city. (For example, as I
pointed out in a post several days ago, in Phoenix it costs roughly
1/2 of what it costs to live in Lexington, MA, or Cupertino, CA. And
the cost of living is even cheaper in Austin, TX.)

...Jim Thompson
Jim
only had a cursory glance at it, was trying to look for property
prices, but with the USD pretty low at the moment, as you said, pretty
usless data




martin

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim
only had a cursory glance at it, was trying to look for property
prices, but with the USD pretty low at the moment, as you said, pretty
usless data

martin

Exchange rate really has nothing to do with it. Everything was
adjusted to USD.

The point I was trying to make was that salary comparisons need to be
adjusted for area cost of living. $100K a year in Tokyo or New York
City wouldn't buy you a closet to fart in. In Phoenix you can live
very nicely on $100K per year. You'll need twice that in the better
areas of Boston or the Bay Area.

And a look at percentage home _ownership_ can be very informative...
the USA is probably the highest in the world.

...Jim Thompson
 
R

Reg Edwards

Jan 1, 1970
0
These days most engineers are innumerate and depend, unreliably, on a long
shelf full of books in order to replace the light bulb, so obtaining money
under false pretences.
 
P

Peter O. Brackett

Jan 1, 1970
0
Reg et al:

[snip]
These days most engineers are innumerate and depend, unreliably, on a long
shelf full of books in order to replace the light bulb, so obtaining money
under false pretences.
[snip]

Of course once one learns how to work with the "dealmakers"...

One can always make more money under [such false] pretenses than by doing
purely scientific Engineering work!
 
M

maxfoo

Jan 1, 1970
0
Only three US cities listed... none of which qualify as a major center
for EE employment.

No adjustments for cost of living at that city. (For example, as I
pointed out in a post several days ago, in Phoenix it costs roughly
1/2 of what it costs to live in Lexington, MA, or Cupertino, CA. And
the cost of living is even cheaper in Austin, TX.)

...Jim Thompson

Well, I used to work in Lexington, Ma. and there are plenty of surrounding towns
that are cheaper. But most of my co-workeres would commute from New Hampshire.

Actually, I don't think you could touch anything in Lexington for under a cool
million bucks...

































Remove "HeadFromButt", before replying by email.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, I used to work in Lexington, Ma. and there are plenty of surrounding towns
that are cheaper. But most of my co-workeres would commute from New Hampshire.

Actually, I don't think you could touch anything in Lexington for under a cool
million bucks...

The comparison chart I found said my Phoenix house would cost at least
$960K in Lexington.

...Jim Thompson
 
R

Richard Henry

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
The comparison chart I found said my Phoenix house would cost at least
$960K in Lexington.

What would it cost in Phoenix?
 
S

Steve

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
Exchange rate really has nothing to do with it. Everything was
adjusted to USD.


But the values were adjusted to USD using the exchange rate, so the
exchange rate is important. But this report seems to have used some
pretty old figures for exchange rate, because the GBP/USD rate is only
1.603 which I think was from before the dollar lost a lot of its value,
because it's 1.835 at the moment, which is a change of 14%.

The point I was trying to make was that salary comparisons need to be
adjusted for area cost of living. $100K a year in Tokyo or New York
City wouldn't buy you a closet to fart in. In Phoenix you can live
very nicely on $100K per year. You'll need twice that in the better
areas of Boston or the Bay Area.


I agree. They seem to have done a graph for every conceiveable thing
other than wages divided by total cost of living.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
What about Sccottsdale?

It's area dependent (as is Phoenix). Prices in Scottsdale can range
anywhere from < $100K to > $5Meg in some of the gated golf course
communities.

...Jim Thompson
 
R

Richard Henry

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
It's area dependent (as is Phoenix). Prices in Scottsdale can range
anywhere from < $100K to > $5Meg in some of the gated golf course
communities.

Jumping in almost on topic.

I live in a suburb in north San Diego County.

A house on this street (about 2200 sq ft on 1/2 acre) sold for $730K this
month.

A house just over the fence (about 1200 sq ft on more than an acre, over 40
years old) sold for $300K last year. The new owners immediately tore it
down to the foundation and are rebuilding it to the limits the city will
allow without paying development fees.

The street deadends a block away at the backside of a gated community (large
custom-built houses on 2-acre lots). Starting prices in there for resales
are $1.5-$2 million.

Did I mention we are living mostly on our equity line of credit?
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jumping in almost on topic.

I live in a suburb in north San Diego County.

A house on this street (about 2200 sq ft on 1/2 acre) sold for $730K this
month.

A house just over the fence (about 1200 sq ft on more than an acre, over 40
years old) sold for $300K last year. The new owners immediately tore it
down to the foundation and are rebuilding it to the limits the city will
allow without paying development fees.

The street deadends a block away at the backside of a gated community (large
custom-built houses on 2-acre lots). Starting prices in there for resales
are $1.5-$2 million.

Did I mention we are living mostly on our equity line of credit?

Yep, Real estate prices are crazy. Phoenix, right now, is in a
house-building boom.

My house is 3650 sq.ft. (single level) on ~0.4 acre, but abuts the
"preserve", so there are 100's of acres of raw desert hillside behind
me that can't be built on.

...Jim Thompson
 
B

Ben Bradley

Jan 1, 1970
0
These days most engineers are innumerate and depend, unreliably, on a long
shelf full of books

Only for older databooks and reference books. Virtually all
currently available components have datasheets available on the web.
in order to replace the light bulb,

You DO want a long-life, high-efficiency, socket-compatible,
color-balanced light source at a reasonable price (in qty. millions),
don't you?
so obtaining money
under false pretences.

You sound like a lawyer. :)
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
Exchange rate really has nothing to do with it. Everything was
adjusted to USD.

The point I was trying to make was that salary comparisons need to be
adjusted for area cost of living. $100K a year in Tokyo or New York
City wouldn't buy you a closet to fart in. In Phoenix you can live
very nicely on $100K per year. You'll need twice that in the better
areas of Boston or the Bay Area.

And a look at percentage home _ownership_ can be very informative...
the USA is probably the highest in the world.

...Jim Thompson

isnt interest paid on mortgages tax-deductable in USA? A great idea IMO.

Cheers
Terry
 
F

Frithiof Andreas Jensen

Jan 1, 1970
0
isnt interest paid on mortgages tax-deductable in USA? A great idea IMO.

A BAD idea:

Why should I pay more income tax merely because my neighbour has borrowed
money? That's *his* damn problem!

PS:
You can deduct part of the interest on mortgage payments in Denmark as
well - and it is a circus. Basically the public at large cannot understand
that they still have to *earn* the interest they have to pay and that it
does not matter at all weather one wastes the money by paying the Tax or by
paying the Bondholders: It does not give more money where it matters, which
is in the hand!
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
A BAD idea:

I agree. And it's almost impossible to stop once it's been instituted,
because it would cause real estate values to drop significantly.
Prices tend to increase to make the house payments just as
(un)affordable in areas that are at all desirable, and the new home
buyers have less chance of paying off their mortgages in a reasonable
length of time. Besides, why should the government be distorting the
market- why is a $60K condo apartment "better" than car of the same
value, and why is $5M house "better" than a $5M co-op apartment?

OTOH, there is a good argument that all at least a portion of ALL
interest paid out should be deductible, and the non-risk-related
portion of ALL interest income should not be taxed.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany wrote...
OTOH, there is a good argument that all at least a portion of ALL
interest paid out should be deductible, and the non-risk-related
portion of ALL interest income should not be taxed.

At least the interest income covering inflation shouldn't be taxed.

Thanks,
- Win

(email: use hill_at_rowland-dot-org for now)
 
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