Are wages in new zealand that bad?!?

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Tania C

It is all relative. In terms of salaries across all jobs in New Zealand, teachers earn above average (well above average if you're experienced). There will always be places where you'll be paid more - but, when you think about the cost of living, I don't think you'd find it a struggle at all. You should be able to find a nice house, in a nice area, and enjoy a great lifestyle on a teacher's income here. This is even more true if you don't settle somewhere where the cost of living is higher, like Auckland. There's no way you'd be "merely existing" - don't worry about that.

I like the line in Dave Dobbyn's song "Welcome Home" - it says "You'll find most of us here with our hearts wide open" - and that's how it is. Most of us are happy to have new immigrants, but there are always some who will resent them - that's their problem - I say, don't let them make it yours. I'm confident you'd love it here, and you should have no problem finding work - secondary teaching is on the Long Term Skills Shortage List (Immigration New Zealand - http://www.immigration.govt.nz )

BTW - we're all migrants or descended from them here in Aotearoa :)

PARADISE_WATERS

If your focus is on money then you should perhaps consider another
career like working in the middle east tax free.

The British Pound at the moment is the strongest currency in the world although the Euro may overtake it.

I myself am in IT and the pay in Australia has now overtaken Britain.

Life is definitely much quieter in NZ and society has not failed as much in NZ and Australia as it has in Britain so definitely consider a holiay out that way before making the big move.

JitterBug

I don't think of it as "merely existing". I am a tertiary student and receiving a student loan of $150 a week and I get by just fine. Granted I have gotten a very good deal on my rent considering the location etc., but on the whole it is not very expensive to live here.

Despite all financial parts, I think I would be fine here just "scraping by", but only short term (like while I'm studying). Those who can't save are usually those who have others to provide for such as children etc., but like any country, NZ is in debt too. I think that maybe the media over there has exaggerated just a little bit. Of course larger cities are going to be more expensive. It's like that everywhere.

If you have a job to go to, you will find that living here is very affordable and that you will have a relatively financially carefree life. The minimum wage here is $12.00 and hour I think. Teachers all through the country have been having strikes to have their wages raised, and they came out of it relatively satisfied (these strikes happened during my high schooling a few years ago). I'm unsure what the wage is now, but it would definitely be higher than the minimum $12.00.

The majority of NZers are extremely welcoming and probably wouldn't think of you as stealing jobs off New Zealanders. Secondary teachers are in demand in New Zealand. I think if it was a practical, lower skill job there'd be more of an outrage seeing as so many NZers are losing their jobs due to factory closures.

I think this was a bit of a rambler, but I hope you get the general idea.

Well i Never!

my gf is from NZ (lives here with me in UK) but wants to go home. The cost of living is lower and therefore the wages are lower - but in this present climate it is all a much of a muchness. There is definite comparisons to UK standard of living especially with the recession and her mother who owns a hair salon in NZ is telling stories of large job losses so its happening over there too. We are looking to go next year, but am a bit dubious myself about upping sticks and not having a lot to go to, but i wish you good luck and hope it works out for you.

PTW

Okay wages in NZ are not as High say Wages in Australia which is why a few NZer move to Oz every single year.

However my partner and i both live max 30mins from our jobs in peak traffic, we own 2 houses and still have money to do things we want to do, in the past 3 years we will have been to Oz 3 times.. twice this year for 2 -3 wk holidays, so we dont just work to eat. I am not sure what a secondary teacher will get but i work in Customer Services and my partner works for a Tertiary provider we get approx $80 - 100K a year.

The cost of living here is cheap, weather is pretty good, close to the bush, mountains, beach, city's... depending on where you are looking aswell.. from Hamilton in 40mins you can be in Auckland, Raglan (surfing at the Beach-Well known Left hand Break in the world), Rotorua taking in all the Maori cultural stuff everything Rotorua's known for, Taupo (Lakes trout fishing, sking) and hiking can be done all over. Great food too when you come try a Hangi, great seafood, and the people are freindly...

Dangerous

Wages are pretty bad, especially for Teachers, but they aren't THAT bad. You can still live comfortably and save, but be aware that NZ currency ain't worth that much and it's miles from nowhere so you'll have to sacrifice holidays abroad. If you're British you might be satisfied holidaying within NZ (or Fiji) for a few years anyway.

As for the indigenous privaledges ('native' mean ANYONE born in NZ brown or white) it's true to some extent but most of it's sensationalist storms in teacups. And immigrants do struggle but much of it is due to NZ's cultural isolation and bi-culture which has created unusual social norms and attitudes which make it tough for immigrants. However it doesn't usually adversely affect immigrants from the UK or Netherlands too much.

And no there's not much talk of immigrants taking jobs although people aren't too happy with the impact of the large amount of recent
Chinese immigrants. But this is far from the BNP or 'paki-bashing' you're probably used to.

vexed

i doubt anyone would think you were stealing their job as school teachers escpecially math - are in high demand. and yes the wages are lower but also cost of living is cheaper (depending on where your located) the top of the country is the most expensive, auckland etc then further down the country much cheaper, christchurch and dunedin.

Zebra

I live in NZ & a friend of mine came out from the UK, she taught secondary school economics here & seemed to think the pay was ok, it was at an upmarket school in Auckland though. She also found teaching here easier as the lessons were already prepared & it wasn't as pressured in the UK. She thought the kids were better behaved than England but she was working at a really good school here.

NZ schools & hospitals are full of teachers from outside NZ (I'm not kidding - you walk into a hospital & you will not see any NZ doctors or nurses at all!!). I've not heard of any non NZers being bullied or having any trouble, there are loads of people here from the UK & alot choose to stay here for good even though originally they were only planning on coming on a 2 year visa. Yes they say they earn more in the UK, but they think they get better quality of life here.

I think someone has been blowing things out of proportion to you, most NZers I know own their own home & alot own at least one rental property as well, which they plan to use as retirement income later on. NZers in certain professions can earn alot more overseas so that's why those people leave. But for general jobs the pay is much the same as anywhere else, if you compare the NZ job website to the Australian one then you can see the wages & salaries are much the same for alot of the jobs on there. (seek.co.nz & seek.com.au). For instance accountants don't earn any more over in Australia, I think alot of people have been misinformed. Cost of living is cheaper than Australia too, especially for housing & food.

I think you really need to come here on a holiday, you can't decide to actually move to a country you've never been to. And if you do then you might find you tire of it after a few years, like I did when I lived in Australia.

Mia

Secondary teachers get paid a very average wage in NZ. Its definitely more then "merely existing" though!! Things in NZ are a LOT cheaper then in the UK so you probably wont notice much of a difference. Its not hard for a New Zealander to save money, but if you saving money to take back over to the UK then its quite difficult because our dollar really isn't worth much in the UK.

Also depending on where you live in NZ, working in a secondary school is a lot easier and laid back then the average school in the UK. I don't know what subject you teach but I know NZ has a high demand for science teachers - particularly Chemistry teachers, Math teachers are also in high demand over here. But if you specialize in P.E and outdoor recreational subjects then you will probably have a harder time picking up a job.

God, I don't know where you got that idea that non natives are treated unfairly!! Haha, I swear, people over here with probably fall head over heels for your accent and treat you completely normal! I have never heard of people from the UK being treated unfairly! As long as you don't crack any sheep shagging jokes you will be fine!! ;)

I think what you read about treating "non-natives unfairly" could be referring to Asians. I know a lot of New Zealanders don't have a very high tolerance for Asians. This is mainly because there are just SOOOO many of them flooding in from asia. They come over here speaking hardly any english at all and now they own just about every dairy and fish and chip shop in New Zealand. We also have a lot of problems with them stealing fish and other natural resources. Where I live in Christchurch there are HEAPS! I remember I was shocked at how few asians there where when I went to the UK. So some New Zealanders get fed up with them and feel like they are invading, thats might be what was ment by "non natives being treated unfairly"
(This is just a generalization, I hope I didn't offend any asains out there =] )

But I fully recommend coming down here! I mean what and experience right!! Its really beautiful and very different form the UK!

Hope I helped!

tchelle

minimum pay is $12.50 per hour
if you are a nurse you get paid about $ 20.50 per hour

cost of lets say bread is about a dollar.20
a house is about- 450,000
u do the math

answer mine please-http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090310000141AAzQeKa

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