BadgeIsBack

I never said Perth was not expensive...I was after all, plugging dual/high incomes..for a reason.

But by the same token, just because one person wants to escape, doesn't mean everyone wants to...

And I never said our life was perfect - I said that people can choose where to live and what they do. It's not one scenario for all. I think people would be suprised that many Australians live like people all over the world - they have interests, actitivities..etc..they enjoy things. Like people do in the UK.

slapphead_otool

I think it is essential for people to understand some basic economic factors of globalization. As the world shrinks, so we move to a more to a common lifestyle and standard.

It doesn't matter where you are, the basics are the same. A classic example is the price of rice, which is rising due to new affluence in some parts of Asia, and making those who are not enjoying that new affluence suffer. All over Asia the price of rice has risen as the rich buy more of it.

This globalization, which has really occurred in the last 25 years due to removal of trade barriers and better communications, means that in theory eventually we will earn roughly the same no matter where we live. Already this is happening - salaries and lifestyles in the Western nations are dropping alarmingly (and resulting in chaos in the EU) whilst those in newer emerging economies of India, China and Brazil etc are rising. I know, for instance, secretaries who drive their own cars to work in Bangkok. That was unheard of even 10 years ago.

This global standardization is already here. The only real differentiator in the future, and to a certain extent now, is how countries spend their wealth. You can pay lower taxes in some countries and put up with almost no essential services like health care and roads, or you can pay higher taxes. The same equilibrium exists with salaries and costs of living. A skilled worker in the UK can afford to buy X goods and services for Y effort. The ratio would be about the same in either the Uk or Australia.

This really is the economic difference between Australia and the UK. It is simply juggling salaries, taxes, tariffs and services. The end net worth of an individual will be about the same. They may pay more for one product or service, but pay less for another.

Within another 20 years I doubt there there will be any difference at all, unless protectionism returns.

All that will be left to diffrentiate will be warm weather and the tyranny of distance in Australia, and cold weather and history in the UK.

In short - don't move here thinking you will be better off financially, because you won't.

BadgeIsBack

Unless you get a particularly 'good package' and have a compelling reason to come...(and there is always one! Do not dismiss this).

I was going to shout out 'tyranny of distance' and then you said it. What do you see as changing in this new respect, if at all. New power types, faster planes? If oil prices are oil prices then the distance will always be an issue unless the cost of air transport and cargo comes down.

The concept of globalisation is that high prices in Perth are supposed to be offset by higher wages...or demands...I think we can see that happening.

Turban Explorer

Have you said anywhere what your partner does for a living? May be someone will be able to assess how easy it will be to find a job and whether licences will be transferrable and so on.

I think it's a huge risk without a job lined up - unless you can rely on the charity of family - only you can say whether you are close enough for that. $15k - well you can wipe that out with a middle of the road second hand car.... and the cheap property on the internet can be very misrepresentative - there are plenty of grim suburbs where you feel depressed driving through let alone living in.

Whether you can live well on 60k (even if you do get that - jobs are not easy to find) then personally I'd say no - I've met a few families where I live who have come over on $100k and have turned around in a couple of months and gone home as they realise its not sufficient.

BadgeIsBack

I was pulled up for talking about a 'perfect' life. My point was that you have to be offerered something very special to find it easy here, if you are not here already and established (we were asked 'how do people do it') and indeed, have a compelling reason to want to come. And earning 200k+ in Perth is possible, even easy.

Mike Smith, CEO of ANZ (in Melbourne) is a Pom. I bet they made it worth his while or he wanted his first CEO gig. The fact I am drawing on him as an example shows (!) perhaps how hard it is - yet I should imagine he is enjoying his time here.

There is a part of me that feels that to be overly negative about people's chances would be silly. There must be chances for people out there. I say to the OP - read the Update section - and get in contact with people there. They're new.

Turban Explorer

I think emigrating in the current awful economic climate for it still makes sense for those involved at the high end of the mining industry, nurses and anyone getting $150k+ salaries? All the signs in Oz now are for rate cuts, weaker AUD, worsening job market so maybe in a few years immigration opportunities will either have shrunk or it will be easier as the currency imbalance lessens and Aussie inflation slows taking the edge of prices generally and most importantly, the housing market.

emily23

If you have family that are enjoying it out there and think you will too I say listen to them. Only they know your current situation and know what your expectations are. Everyone on here is just trying to manage your expectations. But at the end of the day regret the things you did rather then regret what you didn't do.

Making do is making do anywhere, but if you can do it near family and in sunny weather (I know that in Oz when it rains it pours) why not?! At the end of the day it sounds like you are fairly well researched and and thought seriously about this. I would recommend saving a bit of money before you go, and try look into getting a job before you go as there are agencies that help with that. I am going out to work as a nurse and found a job through an agent, it has made the move seem less scary and given me a security net.

But good luck!

quoll

My point about escaping was actually in response to the OP who basically said - if you dont like it why dont you bugger off (not quite those words but the gist was clear). Some people would love to bugger off but for a range of reasons are unable to escape. I never implied that everyone wanted to escape, just that there are myriad reasons for a lot of people having to stay when they would rather not.

Of course, Australia is not full of people who want to escape but, perhaps, there are more than appear on the surface!

isgraham

I've met him a few times he's not worth the money hes on as he can't make the cultural changes needed in ANZ but hey if the board are willing to give him the money he should take it.

slapphead_otool

Exactly. The end game is that everyone, globally, will enjoy the same standard of living, adjusted to suit local conditions. We are well on the way to that...

Its true that beggars in Asia live on 20c a day, but before long that will come to the UK - and its already coming to parts of the EU, albeit unwillingly.

The world will polarize into those who have careers and education/trade, and those who don't. Even then, the West is going to take a big fall in standards.

Right now most of the Oz banks are wildly outsourcing to Asia. There they can get a good degree qualified and trained DBA for $30-40K a year, whereas here they are paying $100K+ for the same services. The result is obvious - pretty soon Oz DBAs are going to be earning $30-40K plus an adjustment for living on Oz, where costs are higher (at the moment) than say Manila.

Give it another 20 years an the costs of living in Sydney and Manila will have equated (with adjustments for the difference in services provided in return for taxation etc).

Its coming, and its coming a lot faster than you think.

Amazulu

This might be the case in banking and other non-job industries, but is not in engineering. I've seen time and time again, here and in the UK, the disasters that have happened when engineering and design is offshored to the 3rd world (and not only the 3rd world - some of the shite I've seen out of Australia, US, UK.......). After all the re-work needed to be done, and the time wasted, it ends up costing more. Hell, we struggle to communicate with people on the other side of the office, let alone the other side of the world!

slapphead_otool

Fully fully fully agree mate, and I know exactly what you are talking about. Sadly the social engineering economists who want to lower our standard of living (and raise those of others) and the short term managers who only care about this years bonus, don't seem to know about the problem.

Amazulu

There's a prime example of this in WA right now. A lot of the design for Woodside's Pluto LNG project was done by Foster Wheeler in the UK. The Flare Towers were built to withstand a Cyclone 2 rating, trouble is they need to have a rating of 5 - it has been built in Cyclone central after all. So a $700-odd million redesign and build later...... This project has many other design and engineering issues too. It is way overbudget and late.

JoeBloggs80

There will surely always be outliers though? Someone in a different company/city/country will pay more (or less) for the same job. Industries in some places will blossom, in others will drop. New industries will be created. Surely its always fluent?

alipally

Your posts on this thread have made me think more deeply about what I'd believed in a subconscious way for a while. The rest of the world is catching up with living standards, to do this they require more money... so they acquire more skills and more expensive places outsource (think, first manufacturing, then call centres, and secretarial services, now it's banking.... gradually increasing skills and therefore earnings)

You mentioned cars becoming the norm in India. I can see that it will continue until the cost savings aren't there anymore, then slowly but surely things will move back to where they originated... because manufacture costs the same, but if you make it here then you eliminate the transport costs... making it an economic no brainer.

It's taken the best part of 40 years to get to this stage.... and things have moved significantly faster in the last 10-15 years....

We are going through a period of pain at the moment, with wages dropping, and prices rising at the same time and so people are having to live with less especially with credit being harder to come by (probably for the best) so with one side going up and the other coming down.......

I wondering how long before the status quo is returned???