Cost-of-Living Allowances (COLA)

No matter what you call it – Goods and Services Differential, Commodities and Services Allowance, Cost-of-Living Index, COLA – the additional money needed by expatriates to cover cost differences between home and host locations is a high profile element of the compensation package.

Using our own in-house professional staff to conduct on-site pricing surveys, AIRINC currently computes COLAs for more than 5,000 transfer combinations on 6 continents, supporting more than 150 home countries and over 315 host cities. We encourage global assignees to supplement the data collection process by completing an AIRINC Pattern-of-Living Questionnaire. Through the questionnaire, expatriates contribute valuable information about popular retail outlets and neighborhoods and allow us to track typical spending patterns and costs associated with a given host location.

AIRINC also works closely with client companies to customize categories of consumption in order to mirror company policy and avoid costly double payments for items provided in-kind.

COLAs for each transfer combination are provided for a range of salaries and family sizes; data can be accessed either in table format or by using a look-up program. Individual Reports providing COLA recommendations for specific salary and family sizes are also available.

Please click here to view part of a sample COLA Table.

click here for a printable version of Expatriate Compensation

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