[Tia Maria]

Most people I've spoken to seem to have but accept its part of relocating and being essentially 'new' to the NZ job market.

If you did take a pay cut have you managed to increase your wages since arrival?

My OH took a 40% pay cut - 2.5 years and some NZ experience later he's got that down to 20% pay cut, so we're slowly climbing back up again.

Cheers

Tia

[YouMeAndThree]

Not sure the increase was as much as 10% on basic, but OH hasn't had to take a cut. He is working longer hours though, but this is bringing more money in :nice1.

Lx

[Milliemoo]

Sorry I messed up the voting :o Clicked on 'more than 20% increase' by mistake.

We're almost identical to Tia. OH took a big pay cut but has worked his way up quite quickly (under 2 years).

Milliemoo

[Familyofmonkeys]

OH took about 10% pay rise on basic plus bonus on top. Mind you he was underpaid in UK.........took significant paycut few years ago when he stopped working in London and moved to job in midlands so he didn't have to be weekend dad.

[gil]

I took a 10% cut 18 months ago and am now on parity.
Gil

[incredible hulse]

I've used a 2.8 exchange rate and included my bonus and pension in UK - 50% cut. I've had pay rises since here but percentage wise they were less than UK previous so probably >50% now

[Moorf]

Over 50% paycut - our income here is about a third of what it was in the UK, if not less. This has mostly been due to me giving up my career here and, while still working from home, doing something very different and working my way up from zilch. OH, in IT, has gone from contracting to permie, and his salary for Chch is okay but still not a patch on the UK, obviously...

This was all planned before we left the UK, in fact we didn't plan on me earning anything for a few years so it's been a bonus in that respect plus I took on a couple of jobs to keep my busy ('dangerous when bored') such as working in a surf shop, at the Chch libraries (great job!) and even at the local gas station. :D (I drew the line at the job gutting salmon at the local smokery!!) :uhoh

[peebles16]

I reckon OH took about 40% pay cut but that's mainly cos he doesn't do an 'on-call' or weekend work anymore so better for us as a family :yes Me starting work next week will help a lot of course and we might be able to start saving at last :D

Karenx

[dharder]

Difficult to say, as I get roughly the same money for 10 hours more work a week. I work five days now, used to be for. If I had worked full time in my job in London, I would still have worked fewer hours (37.5 as opposed to 40) for roughly 20% more. So I put down 20% paycut, though the consequences in real terms feel far greater than that.

Daniela

[marcia]

Over a 50% pay cut for us - hubby was self employed in the uk and had 3 staff working for him - his salary here is less than what he used to pay one of the lads who worked for him.

BUT we knew this would be the case and are quite happy, we came for the change in lifestyle so kev wasn't so busy all the time. He could become self employed here again, he's also been approached to run another business on a higher salary, but isn't interested - doesn't want to work stupid hours again - as long as he is earning enough so we don't have to dip into our savings we're happy!

[Philip10]

I asked for the same as my London wage, and I got it near enough, so I did OK for a nurse

[jubjub]

Initially a 30% cut, it took 3 years, but we now bring home more than we would in UK (luckily as it covers for me being a SAHM now...)

[James 1077]

A difficult one for me but I took about a 25% paycut on basic salary to come to NZ. However if you include last year's bonus it was more like a 50% paycut.

If you include the fact that my wife worked in the UK but doesn't here then it ends up that, as a family, we are earning about 35% of last year's income.

However costs in the UK were such that Eleanor would have had to go back to work soon after having the kids; and I doubt that I would have got much of a bonus this year anyway.

Still we are both happy that we made the move over here; and the kids are definitely far better off in New Zealand than they would have been in the UK.

On top of that we are able to save money in NZ but weren't able (or rather didn't) in the UK.

[Sam B]

Close to a 50% pay cut for me and no prospect of ever catching up again. I was a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist in the UK, but they don't have specialisms or any hierarchy here, so I'll always be on the same wages now, except normal increments. It's very demotivating career wise.

[benhila]

Hi

Our combined salary in NZ is about 40% of OH's salary in the UK. Having said that, it is still a comfortable salary in NZ terms and, bearing in mind that a huge chunk of our savings has been wiped-out (at least in the short-term) in the latest share-market meltdown, it seems that in the end of the day 'live now, worry later' is a good motto to have.

Hila

[Nienke]

We came to NZ 2,5 years ago, my OH got the same wage as he had in Holland, and he's now up from that having had several pay rises.
However, as I stopped working on arrival here we are about 40% down in total. Having said that, I would not have been able to stop working in Holland, so overall I'd say we're way better off!

[KerryS]

I was working in the public sector in the UK on a very low salary, but in a very interesting job. When I initially came here it was as a researcher at a Uni, which were again pretty low pay (less than the UK job by about 50% and that was without the very good pension scheme that the UK job gave me).
However, I've since made a career change (one that I'd never have considered or even attempted back in the UK), and as a result make 300% more than I did in my UK role.
So, initially a huge drop, although I never came here to work, and so scoring a job was a bonus that enabled me to stay; and now far better than I could ever have hoped to be on in the UK due to taking a new direction.

[Leanne]

It's about a 35% paycut on just the base salary (not including extra call work).

[melly]

OH has taken a 8% basic salary pay cut compared to what he was earning in Oz. But he has also changed his career slightly moving from academia into industry computer engineering now, so we expected he would get paid slightly less (due to not having any industry experience). Although his new job has greater opportunity for salary negotiation and bonuses which just aren't heard of in the education sector. He expects to be back to where he was salary wise after the first 12 months.

[Gar1]

Ops I have voted that I got a 20% pay rise, I wish. It should have been a 10% rise, I am now working as a contract software developer so this is the main reason for the rise.

[canajanz]

I'm wondering how we are to evaluate the question.
Comparing UK salary x exchange rate to NZ salary is not and never will be valid .

In REAL terms you must make up a list of fixed and comparable items and then price them out in both countries and express the total as a percentage of the eage or vice versa.
That way you get an idea what the real gain or loss is.

When we arrived here our APPARENT loss was huge ... about 40% ... if we just did exchange rate. Our standard of living went up because of the relative values.

In fact that might be kind of interesting .. to have everyone actually DO that exercise from a standardised list.

i.e. IS beef mince selling for < GBP3 per kilo?
IS petrol (91) < 70p litre?

[canajanz]

However costs in the UK were such that Eleanor would have had to go back to work soon after having the kids; On top of that we are able to save money in NZ but weren't able (or rather didn't) in the UK.

Great example of what I was trying to say :) !!

It's all relative. wage v cost of living

If you make twice as much but goods cost three times as much you are actually worse off.
Ask all the Big OE returnees who found out that the 'better wage' in teh UK didnt even cover their costs.

[Tia Maria]

We were in a very similar position to the UK to when we first arrived in NZ, me at home with kids and our mortgage the same percentage of our NZ wage as it was of our UK wage.

I use a 2.75 exchange rate as its halfway between 2.5 and 3.00 exchange rate swing we've seen over the last 3 years.

We took a 40% pay cut and found we could no longer save, pay for holidays and had to budget for our monthly shop.

I guess this is why I've always been convinced that the day to day costs of things in NZ aren't that much different to the UK.

If, however, we'd become renters instead of homeowners or had a much smaller mortgage we would not have felt the pay cut so intensely.

I understand what your saying about the amount of variables but unless something drastic changes I think a pay cut in NZ feels like getting a pay cut in the UK.

The main difference being is that in NZ you have a shot at a new and exciting life. :)

Cheers

Tia

[Moorf]

I get paid in US$ so I'm experiencing a nice payrise each week at the moment :D

[BkyMonster]

About a 20% pay cut maybe?
Cost of living is a bit higher as well, but as OH is sort of starting out in a new field he was happy with a school leaver salary. I think he was overpaid in his last job anyhow.

[Tia Maria]

So allowing for the odd misplaced vote, it looks as though roughly:

25% - paid the same or higher


75% - took a pay cut overall

and

25% - Took a pay cut of 50% and over

I'm sure someone will let me know if my maths is a bit dodgy!

Cheers

Tia

[M-Squared]

Interesting poll Tia! :nice1

I took probably a very rough 10% cut (exchange rate depending) but our mortgage over here, with only me working, went through the roof! :laugh There again, we need to factor in things like MUCH cheaper insurance, health insurance being dirt cheap (if you want it, as opposed to - in practice - pretty much being compulsory as you're a fool / unable to afford it to not have it in the US), super duper lifestyle, can see mountains and the sea from our house, fresher food, more space for everyone.

You can't put a price on happiness. :)

[incredible hulse]

I'm wondering how we are to evaluate the question.
Comparing UK salary x exchange rate to NZ salary is not and never will be valid .

Why - I find most things are 2-3 times more in dollars so although not exact is a pretty good guide. Granted the comparison on petrol (although the low grade variety isn't on sale in the UK) but I would struggle to find anyone who thinks NZ is a cheaper place to live than the UK in terms of price of goods and take home

[TheBigSaxon]

I actually am going to be getting about a 10% pay increase from Philadelphia. In Philly I was at $108,800 yearly salaried and the job offers I've received so far have been $240,000 and $232,000 (NZD). These were for Director level positions btw.

Dan

[Paul]

I actually am going to be getting about a 10% pay increase from Philadelphia. In Philly I was at $108,800 yearly salaried and the job offers I've received so far have been $240,000 and $232,000 (NZD). These were for Director level positions btw.

Dan

Can I ask what field you are working in ? Interesting to hear those salaries being mentioned in Chch

[TheBigSaxon]

Can I ask what field you are working in ? Interesting to hear those salaries being mentioned in Chch

The field is software development and corporate application integration. My background is specifically MSI Engineering using Windows Installer & InstallShield. My experience is that of a Professional Project Manager (certified) and Software Development, Lead & Director.

Also, I have a Masters with 11 certs as recognized by the NZQA as well as over 12 years experience. The irony is I'm hoping that this will be actually a step down from my current job that occupies nearly 70 hours a week of my time.

Hope that helps,

Dan Stutzman
The Big Saxon

[Watna]

I took a %30 pay cut when I moved to NZ. My OH has gone back to uni so has basically taken a %100 pay cut (but he does have a source of income so it's not really). I know people have said above that it's all relative but I'm finding myself having seriously less disposable income. We can pay for food, rent and bills etc but I don't have nearly as much money for eating out, holidays, shopping etc.

I'm managing though - we just have to budget a lot especially with groceries but as long as I'm not homeless I'm happy.