Local Salary - bad idea?

[fifs2]

Let`s use the UGIs (price) index to help guide this thread. Since March 2010 UGIs pizza has cost $16, $14 and is now $12..that`s great news right as it`s going down? Well. erm no.... In May the price went from $14 back to $16..and 2 weeks later from $16 to $12. Forgive the language but as my NI granny would say "it`s up and down like a whores drawers!"..

Whatever salary you negotiate...you must agree a max. 12 month review period to adjust such to local indexes...god help you if they use the Indec data for the adjustment but at least you won`t find yourself with a static income in a dynamic market.

FYI I never eat Ugis, at any price!

 

[SaraSara]

Good suggestions, specially not relying on INDEC's figures. But I have a question: what are UGIs?

 

[gouchobob]

I think the short answer to this is you can expect to make a lot less in Argentina and have a lower standard of living, some people do make more and have a decent standard of living but they are a minority.

 

[jp]

Depends on what you mean by "standard of living"

I have a much higher quality of life here, even though I earn a lot less, and could say the same for most people I know here.

 

[gouchobob]

Depends on what you mean by "standard of living"

I have a much higher quality of life here, even though I earn a lot less, and could say the same for most people I know here.

My definition would be the usual one measured by what you can buy with what you can earn. By that measure the standard of living is lower in Argentina, but of course as you point out this isn't the only way to look at it. You could rightly list many things about Argentina that don't cost anything that make life better versus somewhere else. Again all depends on what somebody wants out of life.

 

[syngirl]

A Honda CR-V is US$48,000, and there are plenty of them around.

yeah a lot of those are company cars -- that's what a lot of managers get as their company car, they aren't all personally owned.

I guess the thing is I come from a country where people can get ahead much more easily. Here it is a case of "oh I know one guy who...."

For every case of you know one guy who... I know another guy. I know a guy who works at Deloitte and earns a crappy salary but is promised that he's going to be promoted eventuallly. I know I guy who has an MBA and worked at Santander and couldn't get anywhere there. I know a guy who worked for Siemens and made a shit salary and ended up leaving. I know a few that work at IBM and make crappy salaries but are promised if they hold on long enough it will pay off. I know a girl who works at Nokia nd has been suffering from wage freezes for over a year, no bonuses, oh but we'll feed you lunch 3 days a week.

There's a lot of guys out there... but the general impression I get from my circle of educated friends in their early 30s is that they are paid shitty salaries compared to level of responsibility and are all being told just hold on and you'll get somewhere once the old guys leave.

More and more of our circle of friends are talking about leaving -- quite a few have already left. If it weren't for the sad state of Spain I'm sure a lot more of the non-english speaking ones would have packed their bags.

It's no surprise that Argentina suffered a bit of a brain drain after the crisis, and if the economy continues to get worse they will suffer another one.

 

[WO_Patagonia]

Lots of stuff being said on 'how much you need' and what 'average salaries' are; both being quite abstract concepts depending on personal situation, size and location of the company, level of job responsability, other benefits received (housing, cars, flights home,etc...)
But to come back to your question, I would certainly recommend to agree on a salary in a 'hard currency' (USD or EUR), which will be paid in ARS since you're on an argentinan payroll. What you want to avoid at all cost is that your purchase power disappears overnight due to a currency devaluation (see 2001). You also may want to negotiate a periodical salary review to correct for inflation.
Lots of expats or senior managers negotiate net salaries, the company then takes care of the 'grossing up'.

 

[fifs2]

Good suggestions, specially not relying on INDEC's figures. But I have a question: what are UGIs?

Sorry for lowering the tone of the thread sarasara but UGIs is that god-awful pizza joint that sells one type of pizza and has franchises on every street corner in barrios like mine (Caballito). If you think of the BigMac index as a global economic indicator, to me Ugis up and down prices say a lot about the reality of pricing in Buenos Aires.
The concept of a one-choice only, tomato sauce +cheese pizza, made in 5 mins while you wait at first made me laugh but as it cost 4.5 pesos for a whole pizza in 2010 it made business sense and from what I saw was always busy...cheap and cheerful as we say. As of 2003 it has increased and decreased its price every 2-3 months to arrive at the high of $16 this year. Somehow I suspect it doesnt feaure in Moreno`s limited list of "products" on which inflation is measured.....but maybe I´m just obsessed. They have a large price sign in their window and every time they make these drastic price leaps or cuts I fantasise about graffitiing it ( is that a real verb?!)..time for my meds I think...

 

[coolkid03755]

This is all great insight and I really appreciate it! Sounds like I will need to bargain hard and see what will come of it.

 

[allcraz]

About plumber's fees: my daughter has to replace four heaters and hot water tank. The plumber's fee for a day and a half of work is $1,500. And this is an inexpensive neighborhood plumber, AND she had to wait three weeks until he could fit the job in his schedule.

That line of work is not glamorous, and does not have any status whatsoever, but pays very well.

Completely agree about the plumbers..the gasistas as well and the list continues. I took a taxi a week or so ago. If you know how they love to talk, you can imagine how easily he started telling me his life story. He has a law degree but his taxi pays better - He said he makes more than 400 pesos a day and never takes home less than $10,000 a month. (Granted, he owns the taxi.)

Why do you think so many Argentines talk about wanting to start their own business? Why do you think so many of them DO? If they're employed by corporate powerhouses, they have no power here. They see others take a separate road and see their success and naturally they brainstorm about doing the same. I come from a country where people are pretty much happy, pleased, comfortable...however you want to put it...in corporate settings if they choose that line of work. And if they aren't, they move on to find another job that fits their needs. I've taught in countless corporate companies here over the last 3.5 years, and the only ones I see who don't seem to live financially frustrated are the ones who have doors on their offices.

The minute my now-husband realized our relationship was getting serious a few years back, he started to nudge me with the idea of setting up a business together. He has worked at Standard Bank (Bank Boston) for 15 years. Pobre. He's dying to get out, and I'm sure the minute he decides on something concrete, he will. On the other hand, you can't blame them for sticking to their guns when they've grown up in a roller coaster economy and know that a guaranteed paycheck can be a valuable thing.