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?

Higher standard of living - how? I think the SOL in most First World countries is pretty similar overall.

Some things may be better or worse and some countries may suit some people better than others.

The UK has a lot of problems right now (thank you Brexit...) but at least we don't get wild fires, earthquakes, tornados... All things considered it's a pretty good place to live.

Thanks for everyone's helpful insights

NZ is a lovely place, and even with a recent population explosion there are still only 5 million of them on land the size of the UK (although lots of it isn't habitable or usable for farming).

BUT - lots of cold damp homes, poverty especially in the Maori areas, a big drugs problem, a road kill rate twice ours even with all that space (very low driving standards and a lot of drink driving) means like anywhere it isn't utopia.

Better weather is subjective. I’d personally much rather UK weather than horrendous heatwaves and worrying about bushfires and high UV levels. I do more outdoor activities in winter in Australia than summer. I often say to my parents I think I was born in the wrong country .

It seems apart from London and Edinborough that property in the UK is more reasonably priced. High property prices and long commutes are the norm for many here in Australia.

I’m doing okay in Australia as I probably earn more for a fairly low skill admin job than I would in the UK combined with living in one of the more affordable cities. I’d say if you had a good professional job and lived in a cheaper area you’d possibly be better off in the UK.

Australia also has less of a welfare state. The equivalent of council housing here is really only for the most disadvantaged and even then the waiting list is often years. Dentist is pretty much always private unless on certain benefits or through school and many of us have to pay to visit the GP.

ContessdeSpairs
Ask your friends if they have a student loan and repay it?
Insular, most small towns would all have some people like that, not all..
Like our whinging tourists and our nice tourists.
Are your mates sorry Friends from Auckland or Gore lol

I think salaries in Australia are higher than here but their food is more expensive, fuel is quite probably more expensive, pretty sure they have to pay something towards health appointments and schooling, buying text books etc as well. It also depends where in Australia you live how much property and land is. Plenty of areas don't have brick houses so houses aren't necessarily going to last indefinitely like ours should do (obviously that is a generalisation and not sure I am wording it all very well but in the UK if you buy a house that was built in the 1930s then it could seriously still be going very strong when your grandkids inherit it but Australian houses can be much cheaper construction than brick). I think there is often a better approach to working hours, family/work life balance and obviously better weather meaning you can get out and about more so having a better lifestyle.

NZ I don't remember giving me the impression of people being very wealthy on the many occasions I have been. I think people often live quite simple lifestyles there, again properties are different to ours, food and fuel expenses are different. Don't know about their health or education costs, pretty sure they have to pay towards Drs appointments too.

I think it is all relative. when I have watched Wanted Down Under they often tell them they "could" earn double but then costs are more so in reality they don't often end up looking like they will be much better off. They usually involve couples saying one wants to cut their hours to spend more time with the family but at the same time the other person is nearly always increasing their hours! And then they take them on a nice day out and they start going on about how they could spend all this time together all the time completely forgetting that when you go on holiday, which they are, you spend that time together but in day to day life you couldn't afford to spend every weekend doing fancy activities and would most likely end up sat in the garden (or inside next to air conditioning!)

You don’t get the same range of options in Australia. We can shop around more for cheap items

The cost of food and household goods is more definitely more expensive. I have sent baby/children’s clothes over as it’s been cheaper with the costs of posting. Certainly cost of living has risen from when I was living there 20 years ago to a few years ago when I visited. I couldn’t believe the costs of milk and to buy a small bottle of laundry detergent it cost about £10 can still get good cheap meals out but far harder to find now

I have a few friends that struggles with costs in Sydney like we do in London and can’t get on the property ladder and some have moved to Brisbane as it’s cheaper (though a very different city)

I was earning twice what I was earning here - but also paying nearly twice as much rent if you just looking at figures

Took me ages to get my head around

The UK also has older housing stock and a not too insignificant percentage of it hasn't been updated. Its rental laws are also abysmal and BTL is seen as a good thing.

amazed that we got to two pages before that one came up...

sweetybumps here is clearly unaware of the NZ cold damp homes issue. Reminder - the Guardian is for wiping your arse, not believing.

Two observations from living in Australia is that (1) there is a much more even distribution of wealth, and (2) Australia still has huge contributions to the economy from natural resources/primary industry. I'm not sure whether these things have an impact but historically I think "trades" have been valued way more than they are here - I worked on minesites where electricians, truck drivers etc. were earning as much as the management team.

My friend emigrated to NZ. She was on a low salary as a runner for a film company. She has a lovely life in other ways but has to rent as she can’t afford to buy a property. She has epilepsy and had a seizure that caused a brain injury. I was impressed to discover that social sick pay entitled her to one year on 90% of her original pay. That’s a lot better than the UK.

Have you been to oz OP? Some of the very expensive parts are lovely but I wouldn’t want to live there. It felt to me a bit “20 years behind”. Agree also re weather, we may have horrid winters here but when you can’t go outside in the summer because of the searing heat I know which I’d prefer!
Another thing with oz is everything is miles and miles away, it’s a huge country - we did a road trip from cairns to Sydney and it would take a full day to get to the next place! A lot of places are very remote hence the ‘more for your money’ thing with houses etc.

Wanted Down Under only ever show the main cities, and even then not the awful parts of them.
Venture out from there and you'd be surprised.
I'm on a funny FB page called "Shit towns of Australia", whilst it's hilarious, there's a fait bit of truth in it.
I lived in a mining town, and worked all over southern WA and OMG, there's some proper shitholes, which are hours away from a city.

Take Perth, hugely expensive now, I Iived between Northbridge and Leederville on and off, my brother lived in Subiaco for a while and I visited Peppermint Grove once, wow, all great areas.
But then you have Armadale, or Gosnells, or Midland, or worst of all, Balga! Eek.
You might get a house in Balga fairly cheaply but who the fuck would live there?

IHaveBrilloHair. I must check out that Facebook group. I’ve lived in a few of those mining towns - some were great and some not so much (especially the dry ones). I have a photo of a road sign at the first place I lived “no water for 500km”.

I am Australian and recently watched several episodes of Wanted Down Under. Honestly I was just thinking WTF are these people on. I think the cost of living would work out very similar after food, mortgage/rent, healthcare, school etc. are considered.

The reality is that the couples on this show would likely move to the other side of the world, buy some monstrosity in a Kath and Kim suburb, commute 1.5 hours each way to a job that is exactly the same in pay and conditions to the one they had in the UK, have no support network in place, realise it is hard to live the outdoor lifestyle on a 40 degree day, and develop a deep resentment for whichever spouse kept flipping the laminated card to the side with the Australian flag on it.

Poppyfields12 has it right.
The episode I think OP is talking about I saw too and it was one of those ones where the couple did actually take the plunge and move over there and they revisited them a couple of years later.
The woman who had owned a bridal salon in the UK had had to open a beauty salon in her garage (presumably as there were no £40k pa bridal manager jobs available). She also seemed on the verge of tears as she was so homesick and missed her mum. Her dh had taken a job which he described as being “much faster-paced” than the cushy council job or whatever it was he had in the uk and was having something like a 2 hour commute to work.
But it was the right choice cos they had a big house with a pool!

The high wages in OZ reflect the cost of living . Some people live miles and miles away from main towns and cities. Also the selection of goods such as food clothes etc are not as good. There is no Pennys or Tesco to go for your clothes. Many friends of mine have spendt a few years over ther, have sent money home to get the basics such as bras knickers etc sent over or when they come home for holidays stock up before the go back.

I’m Australian. The reason why quality of life is better is two fold. Firstly cities /communities/houses are planned properly so that they are much better environment to live in. Secondly Australians take financial responsibility for themselves much more than Brits. I’m sure that of the vast majority over there sent their kid to the local state school, didn’t have health insurance and expected the government to fund their retirement the quality of life would fall as taxes rose.

Oh, the lack of classism and climate control are nice as well!

@ritatherockfairy
It really is funny.
I lived in Kalgoorlie btw, which is a bustling metropolis compared to some!
(Mount magnet, Norseman, leonora, Laverton, Agnew)
Did my fair share of time in the Wheatbelt too!

@IHaveBrilloHair - I know most of those well. When were you there? Wonder if our paths crossed.

1999-2001.
Did you travel around them working?

Did you do the fishing towns up/down the coast, or inland.
Collie, the coal mining town, Jeezo, what an armpit that was, and I went there more than once!
Even Bunbury or Bussleton, nice on the surface, but no.