shafanm

australian wheather has been craczy lately, apart from bush fire austaralia is currently experiencing the longest drought in her histroy,

Japonica

I'm currently in Canada (Alberta) and we're emigrating to Australia.

The boom has certainly hit bust here. Although Alberta seems to be the better off so far of all the provinces, it's not great here either. 15,000 jobs lost, the gov't has put forward it's first deficit budget in what, two decades. My OH is in the trades (HV electrician). Lots of the projects planned last fall have been shelved. Lay offs galore. No overtime to be found, as he said, "the gravy train is over for now."

We don't have any rosy ideals that life will be much better in Australia in the current global economic situation, but we're moving because we've been here all our lives and want a change of pace. Plus 6 months of snow-on-the- ground winter gets tedious after a while. Last year we had snow from October until the end of April.

As for who will be better off through this mess, I'm no economist, but both countries have pluses/minuses there. I've heard Canada is in the best position of the G7 countries (or that's what they keep telling us) and we have the best banking system. But our biggest trading partner is the US, so what good is the best banking system when our biggest partner is sinking to the depths. If China emerges sooner and if Australia secures its trade relationship with them or other markets, they could do better than us. Who knows?

As for Canada being more welcoming to migrants, maybe, but we have a lot of foreign doctors and professionals working unskilled jobs. So, while the welcome mat may be out, it's not out all the way.

caliburn

Thanks Japonica, thats a good post. From what I gather here, it seems more difficult to get a skilled job in Canada. However, if you do manage to get one, you could be financially better off as wages are reported to be higher and cost of living lower in Canada.

fifty_pence

doctors as well? I wouldn't agree.. any doctor who can legally work as a Doctor will find a DECENT job ANYWHERE on the globe .. Canada is no different...

I think what you really meant is student doctors - qualified doctors seeking a masters degree or a permission to practise in Canada ( I think you have to take a test for that ? )

Japonica

Just from our experience, that is true. Cost of living is lower here (as are the taxes) and my OH looks to make at least $5/hr less (not even counting exchange rate) when we go to Oz--he's union here and the wages are higher for union workers.

Obviously if we were just looking at it money-wise, we would be better off staying here. But then our reasons for moving are not just based on money. In addition, the kids will be older by the time we actually get there (when the house sells--ugh--flat market here too) and I can go back to work to make up for his lower salary.

As for the doctors, unless they changed the situation from a couple of years back, that's how it was. I'm talking fully trained doctors from say India, Pakistan etc. and the gov't would not recognize their credentials...(this was in the midst of the doctor shortage we had too). So, while they could apply and get in as doctors, they were working unskilled jobs until they could meet the local standards. Not a surprise really. My OH is an electrician and can't work unsupervised etc. until he gets his Aussie credentials.

fifty_pence

yeah that is what I meant by seeking permission, because their credentials aren't recoginized and they have to pass this test (I think its two tests) to be recoginized.. so they can't practice as doctors ...

But yeah, doctors who can legally practice would NEVER have any trouble earning a decent living ANYWHERE on the globe!

Japonica

No kidding...was it last year (?) the province started a scheme to try and get doctors for the rural clinics, where the situation was particularly dire...they offered to help pay down student loans and other incentives. Recently, it's been nurses. The province is offering to pay for retraining of nurses who used to practice but left the field and let their licenses lapse. There was a story in the Edmonton Journal of a fella who was a nurse, left in the cuts of the 90s, worked all these years as a welder (or some other trade) and was now getting recertified as a nurse to work P/T as he looks into semi-retirement. It's a good time to be in health care...that's pretty recession-friendly.

As a personal anecdote, my aunt is an RN, and 65. She retired at 60, but they keep calling her in to work every weekend as they're so short-staffed.

shafanm

that is very informative japonica, I guess, the wheather has got into your nerves, but your assumption that the chines will recover sooner than the US is not possible due to the fact, under the present so called globalization scenario, china's main trading partner is US, and china has an export oriented economy which means they have to export to boom, in this context the US has to come out of the mess first and create the demand for goods, which the chines will produce and australians will supply the raw materials. In this chain of event canada has a better chance of combing out soon due to close proximity to US, and being the largest market for US goods, which is further emphasized by The US president Mr Obama by making is first overseas visit to canada. Having said all above the world economy is so unpredictable ,

overall both canada and australia are great economies,

Japonica

i never said they would recover sooner...i believe i said "if." i'm no economist and even the "experts" are revising their outlooks every week.

but with alberta being a real one trick pony, unless the price of oil goes back over $100 a barrel, we're in for a tough time ahead.

JAJ

There is a wiki article:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Canada_versus_Australia

dboy

Agreed, I've lived in Vancouver for the past 16 years or so and the US for 4 years before that. Certainly heard a lot of stories about highly qualified people not being qualified in BC and having to take what ever they can till they upgrade their skills. I think OZ is more in tune with qualifications from the UK/Europe.

I'm a cop and was considering a move to southern oz but could n't believe how low the wages were compared to Canada (for law enforcement). Not even factoring the exchange rate it was like 66,000 vs 90,000. Not sure if this is typical for other industries or not.

With me it came down to the fact that the only plus i could come up with was the weather. I decided that better/drier winters was n't enough of a trade off. Plus the isolation from the rest of the world bothered me.

Just my two cents worth - i think both countries are great places. Perception will always play a huge role for the individual.

shafanm

hi Jaj. that was a good dose of vitamin on canda/australia.
I also saw an article somewhere which say that australian productivity is much higher than canada, although both GDP are similar, australia has achieve same with 40% lessor population

keep it up aussie

letusenjoy79

Lets evalauate through some points why I feel in overall Australia is better, though Canada is also good:

1. Australia's 20 million population, land area of 7,700,000 square kilometers, 21,650 per capita income in 2004, the world's top 19; Canada's 27 million population, land area of 9.9761 million square kilometers, 23,930 per capita income in 2004, ranking the world 18. Canada is better to be the figures, but the gaps are small, basic is a grade. (CIA data in 2007, Australia ranked the world 16,43798 dollars; Canada ranked 18,43478 dollars, or up and down regardless, but Australia has more than Canada. Data connection from the Yearbook of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, provided by theCentralIntelligence Agency, as of October 2, 2008.)

2. From an economic point of view, the two countries are not very well-developed manufacturing industry, heavy industry do not have the basic, the strengths are similar to the agricultural and mineral exports of such products, the two countries are the world's forefront of agricultural exporting countries, Australia is the world's largest lamb exporting countries (but very few Australians to eat lamb). (Added that last did not introduce unemployment data. Canada in December 2008 unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, Australia in December 2008 unemployment rate was 4.4%. Do not look down on the 2% gap, which in the economic field is very big gap, which is why many Canadians come to Australia looking for work reasons.

3. Though it is personal choice but Climate in Australia is better,my personal feeling, Needless to say, the winter will are cold days, summer days are hot, but the remaining approx. 300 days are like a vacation.

4. Education is not a good comparison, I originally thought that, after all, Canada is in North America, should be better (the first place to go is directed at North America), but according to one of the Times World University rankings, in Australia there are 7 Universities in the top 50 of the world whereas Canada has only three.


However as rightly said its all perception. There may be few points where Canada might be better but I will go in for Oz
Sanjay

fifty_pence

personally I feel if your looking to invest in a business in near future, I think Australia has a lot more to offer and is a more investor friendly prospect.. I think its easier to run a business in Australia than Canada although it may cost you more to get it up and running... Although it does strike me as odd when I read stuff like ' this cafe is 100% australian owned and operated' or sommin along those lines... why does it make a difference ? I don't think you'd get more customers ... or would you ?

feitr

I'm not sure Canada is all it is cracked up to be (although depends where you are currently i guess). Immigrating shouldn't be a problem (there are tons and tons here) but i wouldn't necessarily think Canada is in a better position economically. I'm in Alberta and w/ oil dropping $100 a barrel over the last while i believe it has cost the treasury something like $13billion, not to mention the money lose from things like the Heritage fund due to market crash. 15k jobs are meant to be lost, and alot of the jobs are pretty crappy anyways wage wise (although better than other parts of canada). + things like construction which was booming even last year will basically shut down for 09-10. Your average unskilled job will probably net you like $12-16/hr, working in construction would probalby be like $16-$25 and i don't see it being super easy picking up a skilled job with the layoffs that are coming (what do you do?). By comparison, rent is like $1k-$1.5k month sort of deal for an ok family home and homes are about $450 median i think (Calgary). idk i just see alot of immigrants come here and they are forced to work 2 jobs for like $12/hr each just to stratch by. As for skilled job wages i don't really know since i am just finishing my B.Sc and have therefore never had a "real job".

Then add to that that Canada is UGLY, unless you like the snow w/mountains sort of "beauty", with the exception of british columbia which i have to admit is a really nice province.

I'm actually thinking of the opposite (moving to Aus from Canada) although i am actually originally from NZ not UK (sue me). What really gets me is the winters. I am just completely sick and tired of snow (and i actually snowboard) on the ground for like 5 months/year and it is damn cold and although the summers are nice, everything is pretty ugly and it only lasts forl ike 4 months. But i know some ppl that actually like that.