Guest friendlygiant Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Hi there, just set up on here and need some advise pleasse. Im hoping to move to perth in a few months time, but im worried about the cost of living there, as im research it seems to get more expensive, ive been offered a job on a basic wage of $ 55 k , does that seem like an average wage or a low wage ? Im in the motor trade with is in high demand so i thought it was a good wage as it works out in gbp at 18.07 an hr. Is the cost of living more or less than the uk ? Can you give me same detail and numbers please. Thanks for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sassygmt Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I'll be honest with you, perth is quite shockingly expensive at times. I wouldn't consider $55K a lot of money here. Probably the most expensive and annoying thing is the cost of going out for a drink. So if you drink it will be very expensive. A beer costs usually around $9 which works out at around £6 a pint. Wine is cheaper at around $7 a glass. Rentals are also expensive, we are currently paying $460 for a pretty basic small 1 bed apartment in the city. We plan to move into a more permanent house fairly soon. That aside, other things do seem cheaper, we eat a lot of Asian food and because there are so many Asians living here there is very good Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian food etc etc. It is really cheap, you can buy a fiarly big pack of sushi for only around $5-6. Electronics seem quite cheap here, TV's etc. Petrol is significantly cheaper at about $1.30-1.39 per litre, so that is quite significant, public transport also seems fairly reasonable and in fact the cat bus in the city is free. The trouble I think is that because of the mining boom, all the prices have been forced up, so for anyone not working in the mines and earning those huge sums it can be quite expensive. That aside, what I can say is that it's all kind of relative in that I stand to earn almost 3 times what I earned in the UK. So although it's more expensive myself and my partner should afford a good standard of living here. I haven't yet found a job but it shouldn't take too long and I will probably take on some temp work next week in the meantime. On the upside, it is a wonderful place to love with one of the best qualities of life that far outweighs the doom and gloom in the UK currently. The beaches are up there with the world's best in my mind and the sunsets are stunning. Endless summer days and a perfect climate makes outdoor living possible and a total pleasure. We bbq on the beach once a week and that makes it worthwhile for us alone. The Aussies are very friendly and helpful and Perth really has loads to offer. Everyone is very laid back here and the pace of life a lot less frantic than in the UK, he more mellow pace suits us. Will you be coming out with a partner and will they be working too? I'm sure you can find a way to make it work and I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but it's probably best that you know what to expect. We got a bit of a shock when we got here about the cost of some things. Now we have been here a couple of months we are now working out the cheaper places to shop and eat etc etc. Hope it works out for you. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest friendlygiant Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Ok thanks for the reply, seems like you are getting on very well there, I think i might take this job for now, like i said that is a basic wage so there are bonus etc, its at a Alfa Romeo garage so its a product i know very well. so i might start there and see what happens. Scary moment doing the move, especialy has i dont know a lot about perth / costs etc. Thanks again for reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hi there, just set up on here and need some advise pleasse. Im hoping to move to perth in a few months time, but im worried about the cost of living there, as im research it seems to get more expensive, ive been offered a job on a basic wage of $ 55 k , does that seem like an average wage or a low wage ? Im in the motor trade with is in high demand so i thought it was a good wage as it works out in gbp at 18.07 an hr. Is the cost of living more or less than the uk ? Can you give me same detail and numbers please. Thanks for your time. Your cicumstances is typical of quite a number of PIOers who are looking at moving to Australia, they use the current exchange rate to base their wage offer on and its the last thing you should do. The exchange rate fluctuates and it has been as high as $2.6 to £1 in the last couple of years and now it is at $1.5 to £1. So you can see just how pointless it is using the exchange rate to compare wages and the cost of living. The easiest and best way to assess wages and the cost of living is to use the average skilled wages system, which is approximately $2.2 to £1 and this is based on wages paid to nurses, police, prison officers, tradies, etc. At this rate your $55,000 wage is worth the equivalent of about £25,000 so if you can get by on that in the uk, you might manage it in Australia, but in my honest opinion, it isn't a great wage and things will be tight for you. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ezme Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Is that with job offer with the main dealer? And are they sponsoring you? Just remember that is their base wage. Like most garages over here they have got burnt with sponsoring techs over that then turn out to be useless. If you are any good you will end up on more money than that. Plus you have bonuses. Any decent tech in Perth should not take home less than $65k per year. You don't say whether you are single. If you are you should be fine on that money. If you have a family you will really struggle. Especially if you are being sponsored because you won't be able to access family tax benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 My top tip is once you get here don't convert back to GBP - there really isn't any point in thinking about how much it would cost you in the UK - your earing $ so best to think in $ . My father in law on his last visit kept going on about the price of tomatoes as they were "so cheap at Asda" - I asked him if it would stop him eating them whilst he was here and the answer was no lol. Wine is also more expensive here than in the Eastern states, our friends visited from QLD and said the same bottle of wine was a couple of $ cheaper there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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