moving2nyc

Hi All,

I'm just agreeing the deal to be paid in $'s instead of £'s and our finance team have come up with $1.66 as the rate.

How can I judge if this is fair based on the average over the past 5 years say. Does anyone know where I can find a chart showing me the $ value against the £.

Thanks as always

dbj1000

I can't find exactly what you need, but you can probably piece together the data you want from the free Xe.com tools here:

http://www.xe.com/sitemap.php

dbj1000

Oh, and I just Googled "historical currency charts" and there are many other free pages out there. Again, they tend to either limit the period (e.g. 500 days) or be single-day snapshots back through time... still I only looked at a couple and I'm sure there's one out there that fits your needs.

dbj1000

By the way, 1.66 is great compared to today's rate. I'd take it if I were you!

The average for 2009 was 1.56, so they're offering you a premium.

dbj1000

Ah, here's what you want:

http://www.oanda.com/currency/average

ChocolateBabz

I never really thought about it before but when we moved over in June 2008 we scored an FX rate of 1.96 so when hubby negotiated his salary he simply doubled it and they agreed to pay it. Now the cost of living hasn't noticeably gone down since then and a loaf of bread still costs the same so if we were negotiating today we would still want the same deal so it seems a bit crap that they are using a variable exchange rate to base salaries on. What if the rate was 1 to 1 would they expect you to take the same salary ?

srefre

I completely agree with the above post.

I am in the process of negotiating a salary in $ for when I move, and exchange rate is not really a big factor in it.

Cost of living in the area I intend to move to, plus the market average for my job in that area are much bigger factors.

I am also a little lucky in that my employer is a huge company with employees all over the world. They operate a band system for grading employees, so I know what a US employee in my band can have as a salary range. Makes negotiating a little bit easier.

moving2nyc

Thanks everyone for your replies, this is a great forum with great people

How would you find out the cost of living in a US state compared to the UK? I'm thinking it costs more to live in NYC than it does the UK but have no hard evidence to help build a case for a pay rise

srefre

I am working on the same thing, but for Chicago.

Resources I have used;

Salary.com and equivalents - Handy to see what people doing my job there earn.
current work colleagues in Chicago - People who actually live there, good for advice.
People on this forum in Chicago - As above.
remax, realtor.com and other real estate and Rental Websites - Knowing house prices and rental costs is handy.


There are probably a few others as well, but I am at work right now and thats all that springs to mind. I'll think about other things I have used and let you know later.

Bob

Exchange rate is irrelevant.

Just find out what people in a similar position in the location you are going to get paid.

glassdoor.com
salary.com
yourpayscale.com

Increase is a bit like any other salary negotiation.

Bob

Cost of living is very similar to the UK, well NY to London. Some things a little more pricey, some things less, all balances out.

The case for a raise, the inconvenience of moving for the company.

emailrob

Are you working for a large company with a large base of people in the US?

penguinbar

It depends where in NYC or London that you live. Rents in NYC have come down tremendously! Where in NYC are you looking to live? In Manhattan or one of the boroughs like Queens or Brooklyn? I think the cost of living in NYC for the most part is alot cheaper than London. Have you been over here yet to check things out? Feel free to PM me with any questions about NYC. I grew up not far from the city and have lived in Manhattan for 23 years.

Vimto

International Costs of living comparisons are not free on the internet, our company HR buys them from Mercer who conduct surveys on a quarterly basis in 100+ major international cities

For US Government workers the Department of state issues a COLA report every quarter :

http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp...186&menu_id=81

All comparisons are to Washington DC, but from other data you can see if your destination is more or less expensive than DC

moving2nyc

no, we are a small company in the US and my job is to build the business up over here