Wanda

Hi this is my first time on the forum. I am hoping to relocate to NZ at the end of the year with my husband and three young children. I have been offered a job with a salary of $45,500. This works out £10,000 less than my current salary over in the UK for the equivalent grade.

Are the wages in NZ really this low or is the agency taking a cut?

uk+kiwi

Hi Wanda,

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

In answer to your post, yes wages in NZ are generally lower than in the UK, and those filled via agencies would usually involve them taking a cut - at least I know that is how it works in the UK.

I would advise you work out whether you can survive on that amount in relation to costs you think you will incur - there have been lots of threads on here about UK vs NZ cost of living. NZ is generally considered slightly cheaper overall for day to day living, but comparable/more expensive for more one off items such as furniture. Also where you live will have a big impact on your cost of living in terms of rent/mortgage.

However, I would also consider the national average salaries - ie £22k vs $41k. I think that doesn't make the NZ offer look so 'bad' does it? Obviously only you know the exact figures, but I estimated your current salary at c. £28k vs the NZ equiv of £18k (although at 45k NZD, that is 10% higher than national average vs your Uk salary of 25% higher I think). Something like that anyway, but I'm starting to confuse myself so will sign off now.

Good luck with everything!

Pinkie Pie

Hi Wanda and welcome to the forum...

Without going into realms of detail (during which we are all likely to lose the will to live!!) with regard to cost of living etc which you can find by doing searches on this forum or just reading through some of the threads...the simple answer to your question is YES, the wages in NZ do on the whole seem to be lower than in the UK...

Wanda

Hi, thanks for replying.

We were expecting a cut in wages and are happy to go along with that because we are expecting a much better quality of life. I'm a bit dissappointed by such a large difference though. Our main concern is that we are able to manage on such a seamingly low wage with three children.

scottish

Wanda

Wages are alot lower than the UK and Im afraid you will find the majority of peeps on this forum believe day to day costs are higher than in the UK. Have you seen the price of Peppers, chicken breasts, bread, yogurt, cheese and bloody electricity.

Car Ins is cheaper but not compulsary, petrol is cheaper, cigs are cheaper, wine is cheaper, fish and chips is cheaper, cant really think of anything else except the scenery is free ha ha.

So to sum up you can sit on the beach with your fish and chips and it wont cost alot but if you want to sit on the beach and BBQ some peppers with chicken on a nice bit of bread its expensive.

Rental/house prices depend on location, location, location.

ps welcome

Wanda

Hi Pinkie Pie, thanks for the welcome.

I was expecting it to be slightly lower but not such a difference. I'm willing to forego a better salary for a better quality of life so long as we can get by. If it was just myself and my partner I'd have no worries about just going over and chancing it.

Wanda

Hi Scotish, We do like peppers unfortunately. But could probably get by on fish & chips.

Maybe I'll do a little more research on the going rate for my job. Perhaps I'll get a better offer in another area. The job is in Hawkes Bay so I don't know if that makes a difference to wages and cost-of-living

Pinkie Pie

That's my story too and I'm sticking to it!!!

We're going to be trading off a huge downsize in salaries against a huge downsize in mortgage and should hopefully come out not too much worse off...do the research Wanda...seriously, read through as many of the threads on here as you can handle in one go and get an idea of the cost of living etc...

There are some who would say that yes, you could manage on that and there are others who will say hell, no are you mad woman!!! But ultimately it is such an individual thing that no-one can really say whether or not you could manage...

scottish

Wanda, Hawkes Bay isnt too bad for house prices, and rentals are priced ok too. Bonus with that area is the climate, loads of farm shops and a climate that you can grew your own peppers lol.

Theres a guy on the forum from that area.. cant remember his name now... Pinkie do your stuff here pls.

Pinkie Pie

Just off the top of my head here but is it a guy called Roger??? He's a nurse I think and is into Diving...I only remember him coz he was talking to Paladin about diving at one point before Paladin disappeared off into the ether...

scottish

thats the one....

uk+kiwi

It is Roger - who is heading back to the UK at some point so I have tended to see him on the 'back to Uk thread'.

Pinkie Pie

I amaze myself sometimes with the amount of useless information I have stored in my poor tired brain...

cornerofsilence

I would not come here with children knowing what I know now not becuase it is not a great place it is I just do not know how people manage.

My husband is a plumber of 35 years standing and his wages here are £6 per hour.

lapsed kiwi

Sainsburys (average UK supermarket) chicken breasts, £10.49/kg: http://www.sainsburystoyou.com/index...=1123017399670

Woolworths (expensive NZ supermarket) chicken breasts $16.99/kg (or £6.61 at today's exchange rate): http://www.woolworths.co.nz/HomeShopping/shop.asp

Am I missing something here? Just because the numbers are bigger, doesn't make it more expensive.