Chinese beginning to get more bang for their bucks

The purchasing power of workers in Shanghai and Beijing is growing closer to that in many European cities, according to a report published on Thursday by United Bank of Switzerland AG, a global financial services company.

To compare purchasing power in cities around the world, UBS looked at stable consumer goods that are available all over the world, such as Big Macs and iPhones, and compared their prices in those cities relative to incomes.

According to the latest Prices and Earnings Study, which compared purchasing power in 71 cities across the globe, workers in Hong Kong only have to work an average of nine minutes to be able to buy a Big Mac, while workers in Nairobi have to work almost three hours.