ABCDiamond

That depends on what the average household is..

I feel the average household income figures, in a country where too many people prefer not to work if they can avoid it, does not give even a close comparison to people who are moving here and intend to work.

What most people who are moving here have to do, is work out what type of household they will be eg: ...
A two full time average income family or One full time male, or one full time female, and then try to compare against similar figures from the UK if they can.

However, the ONLY accurate comparison is an exact job comparison.
These officially quoted averages only give an indication, and that can also be wildly exaggerated by exchange rate changes, causing inter-country comparisons to be suspect.

eg: If the Australian average was was $60k with an FX rate of 3 to 1 that makes the UK value £20k, but at an FX rate of 2 to 1 the UK value is £30k. A big difference.

But.... no different at all if you live and earn in that one country.

The relevance of the average wage figures, for each group, is to see how they change over each period of time, hopefully upwards...

ABCDiamond

It did seem odd to see wages drop, but I think they were referring only to the quarterly drop shown by this graph from statistics.gov.uk


Looking the statistics.gov.uk figures, rather than the newspaper...
In the year to June 2009, UK pay growth in the private sector stood at 2.1 per cent compared with 3.7 per cent for the public sector. An average of 2.5% for both sectors.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=10

In April 2008, UK Full Time wages were reported as being £479 pw or £24,908 pa (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285)

So maybe the June 2009 Full Time UK wage should be a little higher than £25,530 pa (ie 24,908 +2.5%)

ABCDiamond

I just came across this info.....
Not that I have checked those figures........ just quoting something I just read.........


But then of course your household income may depend on which Social Networking site you frequent...

Facebook users: 90% above $75,000
Twitter users: 50% above $75,000
My Space users: no exact comparison, but less than 48% over $75,000
http://digitalmarketinglab.com.au/in...cs-compendium/


Please do not take this post as a fully serious item Although, if all those users have quoted accurate info, it may mean something......

Lord_Farquar

There are also a lot of people that earn less than that.

Methinks mining wages makes those figures artificially high.

WillBlack

Perhaps what you mean is that mining wages increase the average.

No mining in the Australian Capital Territory what-so-ever, not even quarrying (err, actually there is qarrying):

In the three months to February 2009, trend full-time adult AWOTE in the ACT
rose 1.3%, from $1,360.70 to $1,378.70. Nationally, trend full-time adult
AWOTE rose 1.5%, from $1,165.80 to $1,183.10.
Full-Time Adult Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings — February 2009

Lord_Farquar

I got scared when I realised I was posting about stats!

Lord_Farquar

Surely most of the Aus/ UK wage comparision is down to the exchange rate.

At the moment this makes Australian wages seem much higher than UK wages(i.e $ is around 50p).


However, it's unlikely to stay like this long term.

ABCDiamond

Yes, it is.

aussietobe

Ha ha ha, sometimes prople can't win on here, usually people are whinging because they got paid do much more in the UK!

Lord_Farquar

You can't please some prople.

northernlights

Bear in mind that these wages are for FULL TIME workers. Here’s a few snippets on what else is happening in Australian employment.

Full-time employment decreased by 16,000 and part-time employment increased by 48,200 in July. So people losing full time work and gaining part time, not a sign of a booming economy.

50% of businesses have reduced staff’s hours this year, 2008/2009.

81,000 jobs will be lost in the construction industry over the next 3 years.

Liquidations in WA up 20%.

THE number of people with jobs has barely changed in the past 12 months, but the total hours being worked has fallen at the same speed as in the last two recessions.

THE number of households struggling to make their monthly home loan repayment could double to more than one million by June next year, as higher interest rates and rising unemployment batter working families, according to researcher Fujitsu Consulting.

I'd thought I'd give a another side to the rainbow and lollipops view that is often posted on this site.

Budawang

Real purchasing power has never been higher in Australia. Mortgage rates have been slashed, wages continue to grow and retailers are discounting more than before. There are all sorts of discounts out there. Just bought four return tickets to NZ for $280 each return (including taxes). Once we get there, everything will be cheaper than in Oz. If you've got a decent full time job in Australia, chances are you're doing well financially.

Sadly, interest rates are set to start going up again so the party will start to wind down for some.

It's a curious fact that many people do better in a recession - particularly a mild one like we're having in Australia.

northernlights

Interest rates have been slashed to a 49 year low because the economy is stuffed and needs resurecting.

Wages continuing to grow - great if you have a full time job but hours across the board are getting cut. High wage growth will means rates up, as you said.

Retailers are discounting because they can't shift their inventory despite Krudds $800 cash handouts to the Aussie public.

Your cheap tickets to NZ are a fantastic deal, but are cheap because the airline and tourist industry is screwed.

It's a case of 'I'm alright Jack' and stuff the wider economy. People with secure jobs do OK out of a recession but many others don't. In this day and age, nothing is secure or certain.

Budawang

Retailers are discounting because people are saving more of what they earn. Surely it's good in the long run if people's balance sheets improve?
Retail sales have actually held up very well in Australia, largely due to the cash handouts.

I'm not saying some people aren't hurting, but for the majority who've held onto their full time jobs, things have never been better. For those people who've had their hours cut, the blow has been cushioned by the lower interest rates, discounts, cash handouts etc. Having more free time on your hands, isn't always bad either.

It now looks like the Oz economy has turned the corner, so things will slowly get back to normal. My point is that for many people, "normal" won't be as good as it is now.

ABCDiamond

That report you quoted says:
"The Australian labour market continues to defy the odds, It suggests that we're not going to get to an unemployment rate of 8.5 per cent like the Government's latest forecast."

And the figure of "Full-time employment decreased by 16,000 to 7.6 million" works out at one in every 475.

It may not be rainbows and lollipops , but it isn't as severe as some have indicated. However, that could go in the unemployment thread, which is at
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=624078

This is where I showed that the "Unemployed - looking for full-time work" had risen from 301,775 in July 2008 to 457,318 in July 2009, an increase of about 156,000.
Not exactly rainbows and lollipops either, but at least dropping from the previous months 500,000. Hopefully going back in the right direction, with the increase in business confidence.