Safety concerns hurt Joburg and Cape Town's prospects of luring workers to settle from abroad: survey

Johannesburg is ranked last while Cape Town scores a mediocre 32nd place out of 50 cities in the world for expats to live and work in the InterNations Expat City Ranking 2022 survey.

Valencia in Spain (1st), Dubai, Mexico City, Lisbon, Madrid, Bangkok, Basel, Melbourne, Abu Dhabi and Singapore are rated the top 10.

At the bottom are Johannesburg (50th), Frankfurt, Paris, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Hamburg, Milan, Vancouver, Tokyo, and Rome (41st).

Both South African cities rank in the bottom 10 in the working abroad index, InterNations said. However, Cape Town outperforms Johannesburg for:

• quality of life (37th vs 50th);
• ease of settling in (9th vs 40th);
• personal finance (21st vs 47th); and 
• expat essentials, which covers digital life, housing, and language (23rd vs 36th).

Cape Town 'friendly but difficult to get around'

Expats describe Capetonians as friendly and find it easy to make friends with them.

Cape Town ranks 15th in the leisure options subcategory. Expats are satisfied with the opportunities for recreational sports, the culinary variety and dining options. The climate and weather (9th) and the natural environment (6th) also rate among the top 10.

However, expats voiced dissatisfaction with travel & transit (48th) and safety & security (46th). The Mother City is marked down for the availability of public transport and getting around on foot or by bicycle. “What is more, 38% are worried about their safety in general, which is more than four times the global average.”

Cape Town ranks 44th in the working abroad Index, and second-to-last worldwide in the career prospects (49th) and the salary & job security (49th) subcategories. Close to half the expats are unhappy with the local job market (vs 27% globally). Additionally, they rate the state of the economy negatively (51% vs 17% globally).

'Not safe and hard to live comfortably' in Johannesburg

Quality of life is poor in Jozi, according to the survey. Expats are unhappy with the affordability and availability of public transport. Close to three in five do not find it easy and safe to get around on foot or by bicycle — 32% describe it as unsafe, eight times the global average.

The city ranks last worldwide for this and personal safety in general: 62% do not feel safe in Johannesburg.

Joburg ranks 49th in the working abroad index, only ahead of Istanbul (50th). Expats rate the local job market and career opportunities negatively. They tend to be dissatisfied with job security, the state of the economy and their work-life balance.

While only a slightly above-average share of expats feel they are not paid fairly for their job (22% vs 20% globally), results in the personal finance index (47th) look worse. Expats are not satisfied with their finances (41% unhappy vs 21% globally), and 44% say their disposable household income is not enough to lead a comfortable life (vs 28% globally). Johannesburg ranks last worldwide for both factors.

Expats also rate the availability of administrative/government services online negatively (41% unhappy) and 34% struggle to open a bank account.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.