From Site Selection magazine, September 2000 D E C I S I O N     D A T A

Watching Where Your Money Goes b y     J A C K     L Y N E 'Effective Rents': How Much Are You Really Paying? What can you tell from landlords' asking rates? Not necessarily very much, according to a new study of "tenant effective rents" in 12 major U.S. markets. The study, from New York-based Julien J. Studley (www.studley.com), subtracts lease concessions from total rents. Some of the results may surprise you. Atlanta, for example, had a lower effective rent for 1999 than did Los Angeles, the study found. Less surprising: San Francisco and Midtown New York had the highest effective rents (see chart). Business Travel: Kazakhstan, Angola Cities Ranked Most Expensive Some food for thought as you're putting together your travel budget: Some cities you might not expect will take a major chomp out of your wallet, according to a recent 116-city study by ECA International (www.eca-international.com). Somewhat surprisingly, topping the list is Almaty, Kazakhstan, at a whopping US$462 a day for "average business travelers." Nos. 2 and 3 are Luanda, Angola, and Moscow. At No. 5 ($392), London is Western Europe's most pricey destination, while No. 7 New York ($385) is the most expensive U.S. stop. The cheapest? Johannesburg, South Africa, with a $131 per-diem tab. Supply and demand drive those costs, says ECA Chief Economist Barry Rodin. "Hotel costs account for a large portion of the daily rates total," he explains. "Almaty, for example, has only two four-star hotels recommended by the Official Hotels Guide, and Luanda only one, so demand and, therefore, costs for these services are high." 'Creatively' Finding Labor Tight labor is driving most of us up the wall. Strong bean-counters are weeping (weak ones, too). Hence, this look at the "top 10 creative staffing tips" from Workforce Online (www.workforce.com). For companies willing to relocate, we'd certainly add a tip we've learned from readers: Areas with underemployed workers can be a gold mine.

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