Phil is looking for a good reference or source for a cost of living index to evaluate how he provides for various missionary partners in difference countries. Where do you go to configure base salary … and/or that additional increase or decrease depending upon the cost of living and experience of a missionary worker. Phil thanks those who participate, in advance, for their input and/or reference material. Please share your best resources below by clicking “Comment.”
Cost-Of-Living Index:
The US Department of State Office of Allowances http://aoprals.state.gov/
has several interesting sets of data.
http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp
Foreign Per Diem Rates
http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=184&menu_id=78 which gives
info about Maximum Travel Per Diem Allowances for Foreign Areas (lodging and
meals) for many cities in the world. This could be kind of comparative cost
of living.
Quarterly Report Indexes
http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=186&menu_id=81 lists
living costs abroad, another comparative cost of living index. This is also
by city, but generally only one city per country is listed. The January
tables list most of the countries.
Yesss! Great response, Anonymous. Thanks!
Our mission agency does its own cost of living charts. However, since there is such variation between what some people consider a normal economic level we tend to do “survival rates.” This can help. But usually what we offer, is a long list of the costs of rents, goods and services in the country, and let the new worker decide how much money they need. While you may get by on $ 300 a month in some poor African countries, European countries tend to me much more. The lists we use, however, have missionaries from the third world in mind, not Americans wanting to know how much a Big Mac is.
A good resource is Runzheimer International. Their web site is http://www.runzheimer.com/
They were a client of mine before I got into member care ministry, and their whole business is devoted to answering questions like this.
John Certalic
Caring for Others
john@caringforothers.org
http://www.caringforothers.org
262. 641-9600