Hi there,

A newbie to this site so hello to you all. Presently living in south london, I have been offered a job in aerospace at a comany in Basel for 66,000 chf a year.

What is your opinion on the salary, works out by my calculations £49,000 UK pounds a year.

Bit worried though about the cost of living out there, but I here there is an option to live in france and commute. My wife would be coming with me, she is originally from Thailand on a UK Passport, so I take it no problems there.
Is there a Thai community in Basel ? Best places you could recommend to live with a comfortable apartment. Is the salary enough ?

I will keep searching this site as I guess these questions always arise, but yor opinions would be grateful.

Thanks in advance for your help, and if it is France to live, what locations, and websites.

Cheers

Mark

66k to do what?

for cleaning a plane it would be a good salary, for being something ultra technical it would be a terrible salary

eta don't compare to uk rates, sure its around £49k now, but only a couple of years ago it would have been less the £30k

I think that salary sounds really low for the aerospace industry (especially if you have specialized degrees--it's only a bit higher than grad student stipends here in Switzerland!) And, it's worth repeating: the high cost of living in Switzerland. And this doesn't even factor in the fact that you're an expat and your costs are going to be even higher than locals'.

Hi Mate

Yes there is a Thai community in Basel. But you will have to ask for more money my friend. Thats not much unless there is a potential bonus?

I would say atleast 100k. Talk to the HR people about the cost of living and then make a case for a bigger salary. I think they will understand. Now if youre just a college grad and this is your first job then make sure there is room to advance with the firm and ask them what kind of salary projection they have for you over the next 4 years...

Loads and loads and loads ... and loads ... of threads on the topic of "is this enough to live on" exist on EF already.

Here are some of the answers you will receive:

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Depends.
4. The average salary in CH is CHF 67k.
5. You need at least CHF 120k to have a reasonable lifestyle.
6. I do just fine on CHF 50k.
7. I can't even fuel up the Bentley for CHF 66k p.a.

... etc.

Please search the forum for similar threads.

And welcome to EF.

blimey, you're back

Out of fairness, "is this enough to live on?" is a different question than "is this an appropriate salary in my field and for my geographical location in today's market?"

Indeed. And both questions are covered, inside out, over and over again, on EF, for every possible location and vocational field. Pretty much.

If I had three hours spare, I'd post all the links that a search of EF would produce.

Yes, but the "in today's market" part?

I'm pretty sure there's nothing new under the sun anyway. We just like to talk about stuff for social reasons, c.f. the 18 page thread on soup spoons.

Covered by me respondiong to the question, today.

great.. now i'm gonna spend 2h reading a conversation on soup spoons

That's funny.

Geez, if they already thought that there was nothing new under the sun in the 1st Mil BC, then it must be true!

Why don't you spend those two hours searching for threads on the adequacy of assorted salaries in Switzerland, and I'll throw in an hour of my time to complete the job?

Because i already do that for my job, so it wouldn't be called procrastinating any more
So to pretend to be helpful here are some links i send to people moving to switzerland:
salary calculation in Geneva canton to combine with the different costs of living in every swis canton

Now I go back to reading what type of soup spoon is better and who eats soup the best way around the world.

Hi

I agree with everyone that it seems a bit low for Basel so more would definitely be better.

However, If you are going to base your move solely on the offered salary then I would say it is feasible provided you live over the border in France (Saint Louis, Huningue.. etc)

Flat 2-3 bed (€900-1200 approx per month)
Broadband/Tv/Phone (€30-40 per month)


Anyone earning in CHF right now and living in France will find themselves to be financially better off..

Swiss standards and considering your Field, I will go out on a limb here and say that is low. Please provide more info such as the level of your expertise.

You have to factor in the different tax regimes, too. Income tax in France is considerably higher than in Basel unless you have two or more children to serve as tax deductions. One child usually results in roughly a net equal position.
Big gamble. Will the CHF hold out against the euro?

Damn.... there'd have to be some serious financial incentives to chose to live in France, which there isn't unless you have bred a volleyball team, and relying on the exchange rate to bolster the numbers is just folly.

Like the returning Mr Yards said 'is this enough' has been covered... a lot, as has the resulting:
where to live, frontelier permits, health insurance and probably brown sugar questions.

it really depends what you do. Aerospace is not that well paid, people assume you will do the job because you really love planes..

Greetings,

Considering that our Career Starters ("Young Talents" !) in Zuerich banking IT pick up 80K or more for b*gg&*r all skills, I would say that 66K is - even in Basel - a toilet-cleaner's salary.