walaj

For those that have made it to Oz and found a job, a quick question...

What is your salary (say after a year) in Australia as a percentage of your salary you earned in UK? (if we all work on an exchange rate of £1=AUS$2.5)

If there is a big difference, could you please comment why you think this is - eg worked in central London now work in the countryside, change of career and starting as junior etc.

Thank you for your participation

wmoore

Interesting question. I'm not there yet (so haven't voted, natch) but would certainly be interested to know people's experiences.

When I'm looking at Seek etc, it appears that I should expect a slightly higher salary than I get here but then at least part of that can be explained by moving from 'country' UK to 'city' Oz. And the fact that I'm vastly undervalued here, of course

dc1

Have not moved yet but have the job offer, which is 80% of my UK salary.

But hoping not to have much of a mortgage when we get out there.

DC

JackTheLad

Ha Ha, well, I don't have a job yet , but the jobs I apply for are in the 90%-109% range. Also Mrs JTL has a job that pays that too. So I voted for that range,

JTL

Grayling

If I choose to work (as a MH nurse) then I would expect to get about 65% of my UK salary.Basic salary.

I know the figure because there are state agreements on pay. It will be complicated by differences in grading. There are also extras for shifts etc.

Another complication is that I have always been on quite senior (and comparatively well paid) posts in the UK and would not get a similar grade in Australia.

A nurse on a lower grade who migrates may get a bigger percentage of their UK pay.

G

Larissa

Well if I was working I'd be on less, as a teacher, but I'm a lowly housewife so I don't really count!
Hubby has been doing short term contracts which are really variable but highly paid, probably double salary in the UK but it is intermittent and he doesn't get holiday or sick pay. There is a lack of job security, its hard to get a mortgage but he is getting known to different companies, which is a big thing here in Perth. Comparisons are hard as when we buy our house our mortgage payments will be significantly higher than in the UK, so our standard of living will probably be lower despite the higher wage.
atb
Larissa

walaj

Bounce - for the Aussie shift

From initial votes, good to see so many getting around (or even more - you lucky, lucky things) than what you were paid in UK.

Think it is reasonable for us to expect around 75% of current levels from home counties to Sydney - If we expect on the low side then can be a bonus if paid more. At the moment Mr W is known and well respected within his sector, which will be a big hurdle to build that reputation from nearly zero and translate it into big bucks in the bank

Carruss

I too thought this looked a good Poll but am I amongst the minority that has read numerous threads on this forum about wages in OZ being a lot lower than in the UK?

I remember reading things like its all relative, it costs a lot less but you earn a lot less blah, blah, blah!

Looking at the Poll, we should have tried going years ago and would have probably been able to retire by now.

Just a thought.

R.

ABCDiamond

I have seen a few posters that I would have assumed would have been in the lower two categories, but one thing that I do notice is that although many start off at lower wages, a lot of them do increase their incomes within about a year of settling.

I can't compare my own, but my wife is on double what she could get in the UK, but then she isn't British, and was limited in the UK with her lack of UK work experience

spalen

From my interpretation it would appear that if you are a 'professional' you can expect to earn same or more than UK, you may take a dip in 1st 18mths if you are having to take a sub-level posting to prove yourself and establish network. If you go to brissie you earn (perhaps) less than Sydney vs Melbourne probably in that order. Just like Southampton Vs Reading Vs London. .

If you are in trades people seem to take a hit because they lose their experience from UK as an influencer of wages - so site-foreman in UK might end up being a labourer here - that Ive heard of several times, albeit anecdotally and it seems to take 18-24mths to re-establish. Add in 6 mths of unemployment/settling and it could feel painful because you're spending without earning (and having just coughed up 10k to get here) for example

Houses seem to be expensive when you are here because you look at something and think - christ that 350k$ or 500k$ or 1.8m$... But its a 5 bedroom mansion with a pool on 1/3rd acre with more space than 2 huge 'executive' 5beds in UK... You dont get '3 bed semi' (well not as common) or terraced or UK size houses in any shape or form - so whatever you're buying its bigger more space etc (again my view and Im sure UK size houses exist) So perhaps people are comparing unfairly , who would expect a house with air-con or a pool in UK on land... but people do expect that here and quite often get it. It might be same price as the 3 bed detached in UK but its bigger/better/ etc.

The whole 'cost of living' debate is entirely dependant on what you spend your money on. Car depreciation, House value increases, Medical Insurance, food, tax, VAT vs GST, and many many other things all combine to influence it. If you were used to having big expensive cars that lost 5K/year in UK then you're on a winner here, if you ran a 7yr old car in UK that lost 500pounds/yr then over here you're not going to realise that as a value - you're going to see a used car as a massively overpriced item. Couple that with the potential for a lower wage and you see a 'high cost' of living.

Compare eating out at a restaurant with eating at a restaurant in UK and its massively cheaper here. - if you did that once a week in UK you'll feel better off here. Just two scenarios for illustrative purposes... These are my perceptions so dont start comparing restaurant pricing menus - from my view its cheaper.

Im in Qld /Brisbane so can't really justifiably comment on Sydney/Melbourne but looking at job papers for last 2mths what Ive written re:salary seems fair. Another thing to consider is in UK you can live on south coast and commute to London/Reading etc. Over here the distances make that impractical , you cant commute from Brissy to Sydney (well you could but you'd be mental).

RReed

This certainly does not apply to health professionals. In the UK I was a 'frontline' midwife equivalent to level 1 over here. In oz I am a midwife level 2 (clinical manager) and earn slightly less. These are fixed payscales and are definately less than uk equivalents. Don't know about other local authority jobs - would be interested to know.
Rachel

Merlot

This is spot on wherever you live in the world, for example here in the UK we could have gotten ourselves into debt with a couple of flashy cars and mortgage if we were staying but you then you have to give other things away, such as sleeping at night, breaks away and enjoying the company of friends and family dining out.

We have decided in our lives to live in a basic, comfortable home, if we need a car get something that goes/reliable and cost effective (not flash), not to have any major debts that we don't need to we can sleep at night and have as much spare time as we can to enjoy holidays, going out for a nice walk or just a glass of wine at the local.

Back to Australia, we lived a lot cheaper than the UK. The expense of the UK is going out for dinner/drinks, we are doing a fair bit of this and it crushes your budget - luckily I have a wonderful Dad who spoils us for time to time, otherwise we would be completely broke.

Back to the wages in Australia, I have seen with us and others that you can and will start on really bad but it is possible to better this and get increases.

M

spalen

Agreed.. I meant to add that it was interesting that there are so many medical/health professionals moving but so little info on here about salary and expectations, they are probably a big enough group to be broken out. The difference would seem that a lot of nurses etc get sponsored to come so know the package before they get here ,that seems pretty much less likely in the other trades/professions - or at least a far lower percentage than applies for nursing/healthcare.