[incredible hulse]

Would be interesting to know how much people are taking a cut in pay from other countries in a comparable job... likewise whether it's just those in I.T. and business-related professions who are suffering loss of pay.. for instance, the majority of people I know here who are better off than they were in the U.K. are the construction workers, joiners, tradespeople....


I'm in IT and with the current favourable exchange rate (for NZ) I've taken a 46% drop from UK package. I never came to NZ to make money and worked abroad before and foresaken the chance to earn good salaries for the lifestyle. But 2 things make the move here difficult for me;
1. Cost of goods is typically 2-3 times the price of items in UK (whereas the salary as above is 1.35 times)
2. The work is unchallenging, bureaucratic, behind the times and generally 'un-fun'.

Whilst I like NZ I'm not convinced I can handle another 25 years working here. I'm guessing but working in a trade or public sector maybe easier as I'm guessing the work to be more similar worldwide with the tools of the trade being more common

[the bebers]

Our overall pay drop is over 50% from the UK, but we have chosen to live where we want in NZ, near Christchurch, whereas there may be more earning potential for us in Auckland. $110K pa as a family income, in my opinion, would enable us to have a mortgage for a reasonable family home and meet all bills, but wouldn't allow us to save any/much money for bigger costs (pension, some overseas holidays, occasional trips back to the UK, house repairs, new appliances etc.). So for us, that salary would seem like a bit of a struggle, but if there wasn't any mortgage, then our answer would be we could live happily on $110K pa.

[willsken]

Whilst I like NZ I'm not convinced I can handle another 25 years working here. I'm guessing but working in a trade or public sector maybe easier as I'm guessing the work to be more similar worldwide with the tools of the trade being more common

Yes, apart from the way credits are earned etc, my subject is the same and teaching teenagers here or in the UK is pretty dicey. :exit:laugh

[Ojai]

I came here knowing we were going to be paid less. Together we make a bit more than 110k as a family, and we are quite happy. We don't have the same lifestyle as we had in the US, but we also don't want that. If we were going to have everything exactly the same, why move?

And as several have said, I think this poll is more valid for those of us who have been living in NZ at these salaries, and not looking from the other side of the world and assuming what it will be like.

[Carol]

re the teaching salary Nicola.... I was horrified to find that I was credited with half a year for each year I'd worked in the UK.
Add into the mix - a lower salary anyway - and I definitely felt like I was working for nothing.
So much so - after a year of full time teaching - I left.
Relieving was a better option for me at the time.

We've had quite different journeys - even in the same profession.
which just goes to show - you can only speak as you find.

We have found we have had 12 years of hard slog to start to get to "breaking even" point again.

I'll never forget going to the bank to get a mortgage the month after we got here to be told -
"no sorry - you dont earn enough money".

We looked at him in horror.
We were wanting (roughly) the same mortgage that we'd had in the UK.

And....worst of all....
It was the bank my hubby was WORKING for (in IT dept) AND had recruited him to emigrate!

A nightmare?
Definitely!:wah

[willsken]

re the teaching salary Nicola.... I was horrified to find that I was credited with half a year for each year I'd worked in the UK.
Add into the mix - a lower salary anyway - and I definitely felt like I was working for nothing.
So much so - after a year of full time teaching - I left.
Relieving was a better option for me at the time.



Coming here 12 years ago was definably a worse time for teachers. I think the rule re number of years you are credited for has only changed fairly recently and added to quite a large pay rise for teacher in the past few years, we are on a much better deal than you'd have been. :yes (Didn't I hear somewhere that until the last few years primary teachers were paid less than secondary, making it even more unfair?)

[Carol]

Coming here 12 years ago was definably a worse time for teachers. I think the rule re number of years you are credited for has only changed fairly recently and added to quite a large pay rise for teacher in the past few years, we are on a much better deal than you'd have been. :yes (Didn't I hear somewhere that until the last few years primary teachers were paid less than secondary, making it even more unfair?)



Yes that's right Nicola.
tbh - it has all had a huge impact on me personally. On my confidence, my optimism (which has been whittled away gradually....) - and definitely on my "perspective" of living here.... and why our own personal situation of 4/5 of us loving it here - and 1/5 of us just doesn't..... makes for a life not exactly as idyllic as I thought it was going to be...... to put it mildly.

I wasn't prepared for it. but I really don't think anyone could have been - given the same circumstances.

[marshanite]

Hubby was promised $61,000 for teaching IT. He got $27,000 for the first few weeks and then $46,000 so far shows no sign of increasing. He gets $1,300 every 2 weeks minus rent of $800 (for a flea pit) leaves £250 a week for a family of 4 to live on. We spend that on food! We came here to do lots of outdoor activities, some are free, but most cost money.

Fi.

[willsken]

Hubby was promised $61,000 for teaching IT. He got $27,000 for the first few weeks and then $46,000 so far shows no sign of increasing. He gets $1,300 every 2 weeks minus rent of $800 (for a flea pit) leaves £250 a week for a family of 4 to live on. We spend that on food! We came here to do lots of outdoor activities, some are free, but most cost money.

Fi.

I have sent you a PM. :)

[dilanium]

Given what we've lived on happily in the past, and what we live on currently very happily. I would say that we could do very well on 110k in NZ. Even with the difference in cost of living, I really can't see not being very happy on that salary.

But then we've lived as poor, poor, students for over 5 years now, so I think that changes my perspective. Heck, getting 50k to live off of a year seems like a lot to me, but we'll see how that changes when I actually live there.