US v Aussie wages v cost of living

-
Martythetrimmer

Martythetrimmer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2011
Messages
520
Reaction score
473
Location
Canberra Australia
The Boss was having a ***** about paying “too much for wages” again last week!

A member of his church was visiting from the US and was talking to him about how much less the wages are over there. He also claims you guys only get a few days per year paid leave. So it’s a great deal for employers!

In OZ we get 4 weeks paid leave per year along with 12 or so days as public holidays depending on which state you live in. A blue collar worker can get between $700 - $1000 per week……rents are around $500-$600 a week….food for 2 $180-$220…..gas $7.00 or more a gallon…..so that money is quickly spent.

But, of course your average profit hungry boss just looks at his costs not yours!

My question is, without wanting to pry into anybody’s affairs, what kind of money do you guys earn, what holidays do you get and what do rents-food and gas etc. cost?

The guy talking to my boss can’t say wages here are too high if our cost of living is way higher than yours!

Marty
 
This thread probably needs to be moved to N&P, before some feelings get hurt.

Just saying....
 
I was literally just making rent, food and transport when I worked in Sydney. Thanks STA travel. Wished I'd taken that role on Underbelly
 
My techs average 45,000yr, I pay their health insurance and 1/2 of their families. They get 10 days paid vaction ( we are closed 4th of july week and week between xmas and new year) 8 other paid days off and they work 4 1/2 days a week. I pay for training and they are expect to go between 20-25 hrs a year on their time.
 
There are way too many variables in your question. Easiest for you is to do a search (Google) for cost of living comparison and one for wages/earnings. There are plenty of web sites that will provide you the info based on the type of job, experience, education, and city. Also, don't forget the currency exchange rate. Lastly, benifits vary widely by company and type of job and if it's government or private sector.
 
Sir Thomas said:
My techs average 45,000yr, I pay their health insurance and 1/2 of their families. They get 10 days paid vaction ( we are closed 4th of july week and week between xmas and new year) 8 other paid days off and they work 4 1/2 days a week. I pay for training and they are expect to go between 20-25 hrs a year on their time.
Click to expand...

Nice... Good for you. Take care of the ones who take care of you. :thumbup:

My highest paid make about $65K a year, trainees come in at about $28K.
The guys also have 10 paid holidays, and we close the week between Christmas and New years, too. I also cover the health insurance for the employees and their dependents.

They get one week paid vacation the first year (no matter when they start, 2 weeks the second year, 3 weeks the third, and 4 weeks after 5 years.

They also have 5 sick days, 2 personal days, and their birthday, and the married guys get their wedding anniversary off.

Bonuses for a number of different things, including concluding a job early, and no recalls. There's Most productive, housekeeping, and attendance bonuses, too.
Christmas bonus is based on profits and seniority, and they start at $500.00. We've never had a years when there were no Christmas bonuses, thank goodness.

I also pay them the highest wage in our area for our industry. These things allow me to keep the best of the best, and because of that, our customers get better service, faster, and for a good highly competitive, though we are not the cheapest.
 
frankie said:
nice... Good for you. Take care of the ones who take care of you. :thumbup:

Bonuses for a number of different things, including concluding a job early, and no recalls. There's most productive, housekeeping, and attendance bonuses, too.
Christmas bonus is based on profits and seniority, and they start at $500.00. We've never had a years when there were no christmas bonuses, thank goodness.

I also pay them the highest wage in our area for our industry. These things allow me to keep the best of the best, and because of that, our customers get better service, faster, and for a good highly competitive, though we are not the cheapest.
Click to expand...

what was that about, he wanted to know what people made and cost of living.
Sorry if some how you felt i was braggin or something
and since you were, my guys get feed every friday bonus evry month in cash, 4 times a year i take them and their spouses to dinner and a show someplace, tickets to sporting events, and xmas bonus is $20 per mo of employment for everybody.
Again sorry i tried to post an answer for him to have an idea of incomes.
 
I work for a company called Convergys, we outsource customer service call centers to major companies. My site handles AT&T.

I get paid $9.50/hr. About $600 every two weeks. There's also a $.50 shift differential for hours worked after 7:00pm plus with pay per performance I can make $3 extra/hour. So after 7pm I can make $13/hr, $12.50/hr before 7pm.

Also to, we get commission on plan changes as well as Add a lines. The big comission earners are U-verse tv and internet service. It's perfectly possible to bring home a 1K commission check in a month.

I get 80hrs pto a year, given I work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. More hours=more PTO and visa versa. I get two days UTO each month and 8 paid holidays. But the only holidays you're garunteed off is Thanksgiving and Christmas. If your scheduled to work on any other holiday, you get your 8 hour pay plus your 8 hour overtime holiday pay.

The medical, dental and SS plans are great too!
 
Frankie said:
Nice... Good for you. Take care of the ones who take care of you. :thumbup:

My highest paid make about $65K a year, trainees come in at about $28K.
The guys also have 10 paid holidays, and we close the week between Christmas and New years, too. I also cover the health insurance for the employees and their dependents.

They get one week paid vacation the first year (no matter when they start, 2 weeks the second year, 3 weeks the third, and 4 weeks after 5 years.

They also have 5 sick days, 2 personal days, and their birthday, and the married guys get their wedding anniversary off.

Bonuses for a number of different things, including concluding a job early, and no recalls. There's Most productive, housekeeping, and attendance bonuses, too.
Christmas bonus is based on profits and seniority, and they start at $500.00. We've never had a years when there were no Christmas bonuses, thank goodness.

I also pay them the highest wage in our area for our industry. These things allow me to keep the best of the best, and because of that, our customers get better service, faster, and for a good highly competitive, though we are not the cheapest.
Click to expand...

Sir Thomas said:
what was that about, he wanted to know what people made and cost of living.
Sorry if some how you felt i was braggin or something
and since you were, my guys get feed every friday bonus evry month in cash, 4 times a year i take them and their spouses to dinner and a show someplace, tickets to sporting events, and xmas bonus is $20 per mo of employment for everybody.
Again sorry i tried to post an answer for him to have an idea of incomes.
Click to expand...

Damn I'd like to work for one of you guys...Worked for the same worldwide multi-billion $ co for 18 yrs. Never got treated that good, every year got less and less. Laid off now. Current owners are Koch brothers Google them, annual revenue estimates of a hundred billion $$ SORRY didn't mean to hijack this thread :(
 
Sir Thomas said:
500-600 a week for rent thats 26,000-31200 a year?
Click to expand...

with houses starting at $350,000 for an old rough 3 bed room, and an average 3-4 bed at around $450,000 and good 4-5 bed room houses around $550,000 - $650,000 that's the rent they get!

pleased my place is paid for!
 
brewil said:
I was literally just making rent, food and transport when I worked in Sydney. Thanks STA travel. Wished I'd taken that role on Underbelly
Click to expand...

Underbelly was a good show- my wife (who is originally from the Ukraine) even liked it.

My housing is a little under $2600 a month (includes mortgage, insurance and taxes), but I live in an expensive area
I make pretty decent wages and the wife has a docotorate in virology/bacteriology, so she does pretty well. We both get about 4 paid weeks off a year and sick days.

Last year, all taxes combined, we paid $39,202. By the time you pay that, all your expenses (got kids...), retirement, regular savings, and savings for the kids, it isn't all that impressive. Not bad, no paycheck-to-paycheck, but it's isn't going to make me whistle out my "Neither" regions, either...
 
I visited and the cost of living is way higher.If it was not for having stayed with a friend I couldn't have afford to visit.I make less and less each year cause of escalating fuel,tyre,and maintenance and same gross but less net.I have my home paid for and similar homes in my area range from 125,000 to 300,000 bucks.Local jobs don't pay much(12 to 18 hr) but you can get a bunch of hrs and work like a dog in the oilfield
 
I make maybe $1100 a month..sometimes not even that. Rent is 400 a month plus another 200 or so utilities. like last month rent was $694..add in fuel for work which is usualy $120 a pay period..food which is in the ballpark of 250 for 3 of us..and you've got more month at the end of your money. Glad I had the foresight to save a little before I moved in.
 
I'm happy to live in Cape Town, mountain views, sea, amazing restaurants, just truly breathtaking and although the cost of living has gone up dramatically, a 3-4 bedroom house with garage and pool in a good neighborhood will cost you around $350000-$50000. 12 years ago, before the Europeans found our little gold mine, I was going to buy a beautiful 2 bedroomed, bay windowed, wooden floored, wine cellared, double lounged with double fireplace house in the city bowl. It was an old Victorian house with a garden and a backyard area. Was in a cul-de-sac. $60000.

Depending on your job though the earnings will anything from $15000-$65000 or more if you're specialized
 
plum crazy dart said:
Damn I'd like to work for one of you guys...Worked for the same worldwide multi-billion $ co for 18 yrs. Never got treated that good, every year got less and less. Laid off now. Current owners are Koch brothers Google them, annual revenue estimates of a hundred billion $$ SORRY didn't mean to hijack this thread :(
Click to expand...

it's not a hijack!

I wish my boss paid like that too!!!........I've worked for the same guy for twenty years, not many pay rises, only what the Government grants us....when he's of work for months due to health I get to run his bussiness for him, for just my basic wage.....no managers wage, no bonuses.....he's about to go on perminate sick leave....wonder if I will get any extra for keeping his bussiness going?
 
I bought a $145k house 4 years ago while making $10 an hour. I'm now making twice that but paying the bills was doable at the time. I didn't have to just eat rice and chicken every day and I still had cable and internet. I was debt free as well.

You can make money go a long way if you really want to. The problem is people go out and do stupid things like get traffic tickets and DUI's. When you're barely scraping by, you can't afford to make stupid mistakes that put you in the hole.

I honestly attest it to daily driving my Duster. I bought and maintained my Duster while my friends were all buying newer vehicles. Fast forward a few years and I have a nice Duster and a house while my friends are in debt and still live with their parents. They still have that "brand spanking new" 2005 vehicle that sucked away all their income though.
 
Sir Thomas said:
what was that about, he wanted to know what people made and cost of living.
Sorry if some how you felt i was braggin or something
Click to expand...

Not at all, but you should!

...and since you were, my guys get feed every friday bonus evry month in cash, 4 times a year i take them and their spouses to dinner and a show someplace, tickets to sporting events, and xmas bonus is $20 per mo of employment for everybody.
Again sorry i tried to post an answer for him to have an idea of incomes.
Click to expand...

You're doing great. Why are you doubting yourself?
 
In my area of Los Angeles the average rental home is close to $2400 a month and apartments start around $1400 for a small place.

Small homes in my area are close to $500,000, decent homes begin around $800,000. Homes close to the beach are in the millions of dollars for a small home.

Gas/diesel last month close to $5 a gallon (some places neared $6) and are now close to $4 a gallon.

There aren't many new jobs around here due to the economy and government figures for California is 10.2% unemployment.

Energy Costs: http://www.bls.gov/ro9/cpilosa_energy.htm

Average Wages: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_ca.htm#00-0000 (May have to cut and paste this link)

Average homeprices: http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Los-Angeles-home-value/r_12447/ Areas with homes under 400k are not good/safe areas to live

Average Vacation: http://business.salary.com/paid-time-off/
 
ESP47 said:
I bought a $145k house 4 years ago while making $10 an hour. I'm now making twice that but paying the bills was doable at the time. I didn't have to just eat rice and chicken every day and I still had cable and internet. I was debt free as well.

You can make money go a long way if you really want to. The problem is people go out and do stupid things like get traffic tickets and DUI's. When you're barely scraping by, you can't afford to make stupid mistakes that put you in the hole.

I honestly attest it to daily driving my Duster. I bought and maintained my Duster while my friends were all buying newer vehicles. Fast forward a few years and I have a nice Duster and a house while my friends are in debt and still live with their parents. They still have that "brand spanking new" 2005 vehicle that sucked away all their income though.
Click to expand...


Yep, you sure can. I've never bought a brand new car, and probably never will. If you must have a factory warranty, consider a 2 or 3 year old one.
That's $5-10K in your pocket, right there

Try to put 20% down on a home puchase to avoid junk PMI, and be realistic about your home purchase and what you can afford.

I still live like I make $10/hr, and instead of buying $$$ draining petty crap and recurring fees for services (like satellite raido, or a new $100/month cell phone every six months), I buy one time expense larger purchases, like classic cars and income property:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top