Feeling the pinch? Cost of living
- Thread starter neK
- Start date
full time you'd have to be on at least 20-$25 per hour wouldnt you????
I think most people are missing an important fact when reading the article.
This is a newspaper article. From my experience a newspaper article or current affairs program stating people said or did something does not mean they really did. More often than not, it's worded to sound sensationalist.
This is a newspaper article. From my experience a newspaper article or current affairs program stating people said or did something does not mean they really did. More often than not, it's worded to sound sensationalist.
Fairly accurate for those sorts of environments, after all it's an entry level environment for the sub 21 age group.
Outside of the frontline retail environment there are a lot higher paid unskilled roles within the same companies.
Regardless of the median or average wages 2 professionals working in financial services, insurance, IT or law (I'm sure there are other industries) would easily earn $245K between them. I agree they are totally kidding themselves about being on struggle street, though to Blacky's point if you run in those circles it's easy to forget that is not the norm.
the issue is i think is many have been on high incomes for a long time and they spend up to their income.
my work place currently has a lot of contractors. And the guy next to me has been earning 200K+ for last 10 years as a contractor and he was saying just to stay afloat requires 160K (private school fees, supporting wife, parents and bills and 3 IPs).
there is a division in the company where i work in has 100 contractors in some project stuff (each one earning on average 1000-1500 per day). so that is 230-350K per year. and every day is around 100-150K per day for the organization. Personally don't think they should be paid that much nor are they skilled to be paid - but that is what i know they are getting.
agree they're overspending - i have a partner and my average living cost is around 1.5K per month.
I work part time at First Choice Liquor (Coles owned) my pay rate is $20.07 p/h
Is that based on jealousy or on some deep founded socialist reasoning not taking into account the years of study that they may have undertaken or the specialist skill set that they have which is in high demand?
We all gotta live.
Is that based on jealousy or on some deep founded socialist reasoning not taking into account the years of study that they may have undertaken or the specialist skill set that they have which is in high demand?
We all gotta live.
yes and no - i am a contractor myself having come from being a permanent most of my working life. Some work is super technical but some is paper shuffling - but the rates are consistent across the board. Then again the project finishes which does take 1-2 years, so does the job.
Prior to this i was doing work in government whereby they were paying $1000 per hour to the contracting company for weekends. Every weekend they had 10 guys fighting to get a spot on standby on-site earning 1K per hour. Didn't last long as the main company that had the contract got canned.
Most retail jobs for larger organisations pay around $21 ph for part-time workers and around $25 ph for casuals. The rate is lower if they are under 20. Sundays are 1.5x normal hourly rate and public holidays are 2.5x - think of this when you shop on a Sunday, the person serving you is probably on $31.50per hour and if you simply have to shop on a public holiday, the check out chick is on $52.50. And don't assume that only the kids work on those days. They are notoriously unreliable and there are always more 'senior' people who have to cover for this fact. It's good money for uni students and families where the (usually) mum wants to bring in some extra money.
Sorry to get off topic...
Sorry to get off topic...
Sure is, Its my 2nd job and only contracted 10 hours per week. But that is perfect for me. Best part of the job is my job is wine tasting
Nowhere will hire you as a casual and give you full-time hours so the casual rate is irrelevant. Also, the penalty rate multiplier is inclusive of casual loading. They would rather be short staffed on a public holiday than pay someone not on youth wages to be there. My husband is working in retail while finishing his uni degree so I've had good exposure to this. Not to mention witholding of sick leave and all the other lucrative conditions.
Sure is, Its my 2nd job and only contracted 10 hours per week. But that is perfect for me. Best part of the job is my job is wine tasting
are they hiring???? I need a job! sounds perfect for me
I can't comment on your husband's job but at the big retailer where I work, people of all ages are hired (but yes, under-20s are hired in larger numbers). They are initially all hired as casuals and stay casual for approximately 4 months, after which, if the older workers have proved themselves to be reliable, punctual, etc, and are still actually showing up after their initial 4 month 'casual' period, they are offered 10 hours per week in a permanent part-time capacity (yep, crap, I know). Extra voluntary shifts are usually offered to those who want them if they are available. It just depends on a person's availability and willingness to work, usually, unpopular shifts like Friday nights, Saturdays...) These extra shifts go towards holidays entitlements and help increase your chances of being offered more permanent hours, if wanted.
It's true that there are not many full-timers at all. The only full-time employees at my workplace (apart from the managers who are salaried) are a few older folk who started working for the organisation prior to Workchoices changes. Younger workers are usually all casual.
Retail, these days, really is just a job to earn a few extra dollars to get someone through uni; bring in some extra money as a second job, or for a secondary earner of a household to contribute some cash to it.
I would never recommend it as a main source of a household's income, but I like the flexibility of the shifts as I'm a Mum and it works in with my husband's job that involves lots of shift work.
As for rather being short staffed on a public holiday than pay someone to work, it must depend on the workplace. Sure, my workplace would prefer to put younger people on those days, but I have lost count of how many public holidays, Sundays, I've worked over the past few years and I'm definitely over 20!
Sure is, Its my 2nd job and only contracted 10 hours per week. But that is perfect for me. Best part of the job is my job is wine tasting
Good on you! That extra $200 pw could mean the difference between being able to afford to invest in property and not being able to.
I guess a lot of what has been said confirmed my opinion. Firstly $245k is not all that unusual (though certainly not the norm) for a dual income household.
The cost of living in Australia is ridiculously high - due to the above fact. $245k is a very high salary for two people.
Another major reason for the high cost of living is the minimum wage. Earning $20-$30/ph on a normal shift and up to $50/ph for a check out attendant is outrageous. However, at least these people are working.
Earning $35,000/pa to dole bludge is just plain wrong.
If you can't make a decent crack of it on $245k/pa it wouldn't matter if you earned $1mil - you are doing it wrong.
Blacky
The cost of living in Australia is ridiculously high - due to the above fact. $245k is a very high salary for two people.
Another major reason for the high cost of living is the minimum wage. Earning $20-$30/ph on a normal shift and up to $50/ph for a check out attendant is outrageous. However, at least these people are working.
Earning $35,000/pa to dole bludge is just plain wrong.
If you can't make a decent crack of it on $245k/pa it wouldn't matter if you earned $1mil - you are doing it wrong.
Blacky
