On “average” wages: The chart uses a typical/median (net) hourly wage, not the mean. Means are pulled up by high earners, and many HN readers sit above the median. so your personal “hours to basics” will look lower than the chart. Using the mean would systematically understate hours for the typical worker, especially in unequal countries. Also note: the index assumes a single renter; couples/roommates or employer subsidies will reduce hours per person.
Not a welfare ranking. This measures one thing: hours of work to cover a small monthly essentials basket (rent, utilities, basic food, transport) = price ÷ wage. Healthcare/education/vacation are mostly outside that basket or already baked into hourly pay.
TL;DR: PPP adjusts prices across currencies; this metric converts a fixed essentials basket into hours of local work.
Formula: Hours = Monthly essentials basket price (local) ÷ Typical local hourly wage.
Two countries can have similar PPP price levels, but if wages differ, the hours required can be very different. This is an affordability / effort measure, not a price-level measure. It’s closer to the classic “hours of work to buy X,” except the “X” is a core monthly basket (rent + utilities + basic food + transport + essentials). Currency-agnostic, distribution-sensitive, and directly relatable to workers’ time.
Author here. The article maps how AI shifts costs to households (riders, grid upgrades) and proposes Self-Powered AI: new clean supply, hour-by-hour local matching, firm backup, and a public ledger (plus water disclosure). It’s operational, verifiable, and pro-growth—just puts costs where they belong. Sources and methods in the piece. Happy to discuss edge cases and prior art.