Why do we have such a low standard of living compared with Australia or New Zealand?

[Iggypoppie]

Disclaimer - never actually been but have watched a lot of Wanted Down Under

Just watched an episode of Wanted Down Under where the woman was told she could earn up to £40k pa working in a bridal dress shop. (£s not $s). And even after higher costs would be loads better off than in the UK.

This has been the case for most who are on the programme - including health and education workers.

So if the UK is a wealth country, why do we have such a low standard of living compared with these countries? (Assuming that the programme is accurate).

Am I missing something?

Found this handy comparator but still none the wiser
countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/australia/uk

I think the standard of living is pretty similar tbh - just with better weather!

Was it a recent episode?

We left Australia in 2002, have visited family there a few times since and can't believe how expensive everything has become - property prices, especially in the cities, are astronomical to the extent that we couldn't afford to move back. Food prices also high and wages haven't kept pace. I'd take the £40K with a pinch of salt really.

I'd say they're broadly the same. The cost of living is higher in Australia, which is reflected in higher salaries.

Australia and NZ are really far away from everything, a lot of stuff has to be imported, especially New Zealand

Population is also much lower than the EU so they don't benefit from economies of scale

My BIL was looking at the price of bathroom fittings and the difference in price between the UK and NZ is like x3 more expensive

I can only agree. Me and dh earn twice as much here. Literally double the amount of money compared to what we would earn in the UK. We live in a very nice city, in a very nice part. Fair enough we have a very simple life (made easier by the good weather - so many outdoors activities), which means in a good month we save about 2000 pounds (not dollars). In the UK we would have such poorly paid jobs we wouldn't have any money left over. It is a high wage economy with less of a gap between the low and high earners.

I have no idea. I also watched an episode of wanted down under, and the both husband and wife had the potential to earn more than double what they were earning in the UK, and that would have been taking quite a large step down in the husbands case.
After that episode, I looked up the annual salary for a teacher in Australia, but the results I found were pretty much the same as the UK.

I don't think it's a better standard of life because wages are higher, it's more because the weather is more clement so you can avail of the outdoor lifestyle more than in the UK. Property and food is very expensive in Australia, they never show housing options in the city on WDU, it's always "a convenient 40 minute drive from Melbourne".

I'd agree with everything being more expensive there backpacked Oz 20 years ago when it was still cheap went back 5 years ago and everything was much more expensive esp. food and accomodation.

There is no way you would earn £40k in a shop in NZ, it would definitely be more like $40k! You would only be looking at big money as a manager of a massive supermarket or big department store.

Food over here in Australia costs a fortune!

I think the TV programmes are designed to show the rosey side of things and entertain those watching them. Having a lot of Aussie and Kiwi friends here in London, most of them are here because the cost of living is so high over there and jobs with comparatively high salaries relatively scarce. And quality of life is relative - outside of the (astronomically expensive) major cities, life can be quite insular and people pretty closed-minded, which wouldn’t make for a great quality of life for me.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion you find that a lot, that the salary discrepancies can be really variable. Recently there was a really experienced MH nurse who had loads of additional training discovered she would start off on less in Australia as her training wasn't recognized there. Her husband had a random job that I cannot remember, but his salary was really good in comparison to the UK one. Sometimes I wonder if WDU are flexible with the truth to make better viewing.

Yes some things are more expensive, but at the end of the day unless you are a London high flyer, most people'll probably earn more in Australia and have more disposable income. (Don't know about New Zealand though.) However, there is quite a bit of indigenous and rural poverty - so it's not all rosy.

According to that table some of the main differences are that:

• The UK's national debt is Debt 85.90%GDP whereas Australia's is 41.37% of GDP.

• We have a net import/export deficit (we import more than we export) whereas Australia doesn't have a deficit.

• We have lower 'innovation' score.

• They pay VAT at 10%

Everything else seems similar. So is debt dragging down our economy? What's going on?

PS- I'm not an economist

I’m in NZ and earn peanuts compared to UK (and Australia, where wages are about 30pc higher). Housing, utilities and food is expensive.

However, we cut our cloth and We’re very happy here, especially the children who have flourished. Won’t be going back to the UK, although there are some things I miss (pubs).

And I don’t think you could earn that much working in a bridal shop.

Thanks to everyone who's commented. Just have a concern that we can't properly hold MPs to account if we don't actually know what's going on in comparable countries...

Not everybody who goes on that show finds out that their standard of living will be better though.

As PP have said, food is very expensive in Australia, along with booze. And house prices can be astronomical, especially in Sydney.

After that episode, I looked up the annual salary for a teacher in Australia, but the results I found were pretty much the same as the UK.

The salary would range from (in pounds) just over 30k for a newly qualified teacher in a state school teacher to over 60k after 5-10 years working as classroom teacher in a private school. No way could you earn that in the UK without leadership responsibility.

Firstly, take the "up to" with a huge pinch of salt. It will be the top end of potential salaries, with most likely to be well below that. I've just had a look at my line of work (degree qualified, sought after etc) and the pay is a bit more than over here, but not by a huge amount.

A more accurate measure might be to look at GDP per person (based on purchasing power). This shows Australia a bit ahead, but not miles away. Their better economic performance is mainly down to having lots of land with stuff they can mine. Also, New Zealand is actually behind the UK (and that was my experience from going there). If you really want to go where the money is then Ireland is the place to be.

I’ve noticed the same but at the same time their overall outgoings in Wanted Down Under are always more when they do that bit.

On a separate note, I have to pick my DS up from preschool at 11.45 so always miss the revisited big of the episodes, so annoying!

Salaries may be higher, but you have to pay for health care, and in many areas education too. They don't have many world class universities either...

So depends what you want for standard of living.

Ireland is also pretty expensive though; Dublin is much pricier than London.

Everything else seems similar. So is debt dragging down our economy? What's going on?

There's money in the uk - or at least enough of it - but it's been distributed away from the those at the bottom upwards to the rich over the past couple of decades. Particularly the last 10.

Some countries allow their citizens to benefit from the nation's wealth (or at least have some of the pie). The UK is run for the benefit of those at the top - the rest are just cannon fodder. Move away and you see it clearly.

Ireland is also pretty expensive though; Dublin is much pricier than London.

Yes, and the average wage is also very similar to the UK. The difference in GDP is I think due to the large number of companies based there for tax purposes. How that ends up reflected in standard of living I don't really know tbh.