Kris_Rocks

My husband has been offered a job in west Sydney as a motor mechanic - he is fully qualified with 23 years experience and they are offering $55,000 + 9% super, I am thinking this isnt really a very good wage especially in the sydney area am I right.
2 years ago he was offered a job in Perth for £60,000 + Super and they would ship us all out and sort out accom for 1st month and loan a car.
We couldnt take that position at the time because of our house not selling and family probs, however, I know the global economy has gone down but that much???

Is this about right or is my instinct right and this would not be enough to live on in Sydney area?

Weebie

In short no....but plenty people do.

Pollyana

Is it just you and your husband, or do you have kids too?
My initial instinct would be to say its certainly not a good wage for Sydney, which is expensive, especially if you have kids, but then there are people living on less. Not sure what the usual wage for a Sydney mechanic would be, I'm sure someone can fill that gap in at a more civilised hour (its 2.30am here!) but I sure wouldn't move across the world for $55k.

Kris_Rocks

There is my husband myself and we have a nearly 4 year old.
In the UK my husband works and I work from home selling on ebay.
With child tax credits etc. we get by OK, we arent loaded but we lead an OK life I think.
I am an Australian citizen, was born there but came to UK when I was 3, I also got Australian citizenship for my son when he was born.
We wanted to move to Australia to give him a better quality of life really and unfortunately couldnt go a couple of years ago when we first had the opportunity but we are now able to seriously think about it now.
My husband put his toe in the job water and signed up with an agency specialising in Motor trade and this is the first thing that came back, within a week, but as I said I feel its a bit on the low side to decamp and be worse off than we are here.

Bermudashorts

It is significantly below average wage in an expensive city. Do you manage on that now? Would you be able to bring over a lot of capital to assist with housing? If the answer to these questions is no then I would say stay put, this is a very low wage.

Kris_Rocks

If any motor trade peeps read this - is this wage about what a skilled mechanic would expect? It seems low in general.

Beedubya

It is very low for Sydney, you would find it a struggle believe me, I was earning less than that as a single person and it was hard going.............

paulandcelia

So what is the current average wage for australia?
I thought it was about $55K

Bermudashorts

I believe it is just under 70k.

paulandcelia

According to this automotive average 68,366

http://content.mycareer.com.au/salary-centre/

Admittedly probably not the most reliable source but it can give a pointer in the right direction

quoll

Talking to our local mechanic, in ACT, which generally has higher average wages $55k would be about average but it could go up to $70k if someone were very experienced and had special skills that were in demand.

I dont think I would be getting too excited about $55k -I think that would be a real struggle especially in an expensive place like Sydney where you are likely to spent around $25k pa on your rental before you even begin.

macy

I wouldn't even consider it, we did it tough for the first year we were over and honestly it was hard, really hard, never been so poor......

Jen1977ni

Do you intend to work full-time too, because if you were prepared to, then it might be slightly more manageable?! Just a thought...

steen1976

Yes I would think another wage would be required as it would be tough coming from the UK to live on that. But out west you could probably get a unit for about $300 a week so accommodation no where near as bad as closer to the CBD/beaches.

Kris_Rocks

I would consider a return to work when my son started school but I dont really want to until then, even more so after a move of that magnitude, I wouldnt then want to place him with any form of care other than my own or family when he has never done it before too other than playschool - kind of goes against my personal beliefs anyway too. However at the moment I earn more money in my pocket than I would working full time being self employed doing what I do and I cant see that I couldnt start the same up again over in Oz its just not guaranteed.

I think my suspicion is right that it is a bad offer - I think that for a 40 year old with good qualifications and 23 years experience within a peugeot dealership is worth more than that.