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BUS_100518_DIB 18MAY2010 BUSINESS A bank teller counts five hundred dirham notes. UAE currency. Retail banking in the main branch of Dubai Islamic Bank in Diera. PHOTO: MEGAN HIRONS MAHON

Many UAE residents identify the size of their paycheque as a very important consideration for staying with a company.  

The more satisfied they are with their salary, the more loyal they become. One recent survey shows, about three in ten respondents in the country believe that their loyalty is “directly linked” to how much their organisation is paying them.

An analysis by UBS, which takes a look at living costs and workers' purchasing power in 71 cities worldwide, shows that residents in Dubai need to fork out more than twice their salaries in order to buy the same items that their peers in other labour markets would consume in a month.

Here's a quick look at the actual purchasing power of wages across more than 30 cities surveyed in 2015. The next updated data will be released two or three years from now.

Working time required to buy a Bic Mac in select cities

Country  Working time in minutes
Amsterdam   16
Athens   26
Auckland   13
Bangkok   37
Barcelona  21
Beijing   42
Cairo   62
Chicago   11
Doha   18
Dubai   17
Geneva   11
Hong Kong   67.8
Kuala Lumpur   23
London   12
Los Angeles   11
Luxembourg   10
Montreal   13
Vienna   12
Zurich   11
Mumbai   40
New Delhi   50

Top 10 cities with highest domestic purchasing power (based on net hourly pay)

Country  Purchasing power
1.      Luxembourg 134.3
2.      Zurich 130.5
3.      Geneva   127.5
4.      Miami   122.1
5.      Los Angeles   116
6.      Nicosia    106.7
7.      Vienna   106.5
8.      Sydney  104.2
9.      Munich   104.2
10.   Montreal   102.6

How the rest of the cities fare:

Country  Purchasing power
11. Frankfurt   102
12. Berlin   101.9
13. Chicago   101.1
14. New York City   100
15. Lyon   96.9
16. Paris   92.4
17. Dublin   91.4
18. Brussels   90.9
19. Toronto   89.1
20. Oslo   86.6
21. London   85.3
22. Helsinki  84.5
23. Stockholm   82.9
24. Auckland   82.9
25. Amsterdam  81.7
26. Rome   80.8
27. Tokyo   80
28. Manama   68.6
29. Madrid   84
30. Barcelona    81.8
31. Hong Kong   67.8
32. Milan   75.3
33. Johannesburg   70.5
34. Dubai   56.8
35. Tel Aviv   64.6
36. Sao Paulo   58.4
37. Copenhagen   104.8
38. Seoul   57.9
39. Ljublijana   62.2
40. Doha   49.7