Sydney places in top 10 in global Quality of Living Survey
Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey has ranked Sydney 10th with Melbourne 16th.
The survey of 450 cities is a benchmark against New York to help organisations determine wages and conditions for their employees on overseas assignments.
A part of the survey concentrated on city infrastructure, Sydney making the top 10 followed by Perth (32), Melbourne (34) and Brisbane (37).
Lorraine Jennings, Mercer’s Global Mobility Practice Leader in Australia and New Zealand said Australian cities have been ranked amongst the best in the world due to our safety, culturally diverse, skilled local workforce and robust infrastructure which can be a key competitive advantage in trying to attract multinational companies, talent and foreign investments.
“The report provides a qualitative measure of living conditions around the world to enable organisations to apply relative incentives to motivate employees to accept foreign assignments, particularly in a compromised quality of living location," she said.
"The success factors for foreign assignments is attributed to ease of travel and communication, health considerations, the local political environment, personal safety and access to public services.
"Sydney’s strong endorsement on the City Infrastructure ranking was due to its high weighting under categories including variety of transport options, local and international connectivity and access to electricity and drinkable water which are essential needs of expatriates arriving in a new location on assignment.
"There is room for Australia to improve in the rankings though, with factors such as Melbourne’s traffic congestion and a nation-wide low score on availability of international flights and international schools contributing to perhaps lower-than-expected results."
Singapore led the charge in the city infrastructure ranking, followed by Frankfurt and Munich both in 2nd place. Baghdad (230) and Port au Prince (231) ranked last.
Ilya Bonic, senior partner and president of Mercer’s Career business said economic instability, social unrest, and growing political upheaval all add to the complex challenge multinational companies face when analysing quality of living for their expatriate workforce.
"In uncertain times, organisations that plan to establish themselves and send staff to a new location should ensure they get a complete picture of the city, including its viability as a business location and its attractiveness to key talent,” he said..
New Zealand and Australia rank high in quality of living with Auckland (3), Sydney (10), Wellington (15), and Melbourne (16).
Only Sydney (8) makes the top ten when ranked for infrastructure in Oceania, with Perth (32), Melbourne (34), and Brisbane (37).
Singapore (25) remains the highest ranking city in the Asia-Pacific region, where there is great disparity in quality of living; Dushanbe (215) in Tajikistan ranks lowest.
In Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur (86) follows Singapore; other key cities include Bangkok (131), Manila (135), and Jakarta (143).
Five Japanese cities top the ranking for East Asia: Tokyo (47), Kobe (50), Yokohama (51), Osaka (60), and Nagoya (63).
Other notable cities in Asia include Hong Kong (71), Seoul (76), Taipei (85), Shanghai (102), and Beijing (119). There is also considerable regional variation in the city infrastructure ranking.
The highest-ranked city is Singapore (1), whereas Dhaka (214) is near the bottom of the list.