NZ v Australia - Salaries

[Kiwi Mac]

Interesting article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=10634606

[Kewlest]

Wow!

[Fletchaman]

ALDI and LIDL in UK are the biggest payers of the retail industry, but boy do you work for it, my friend is a store manager and does minimum 13 hour days, and he has to stack shelves work the till, and manage the store and its personell.

Tesco, Morrisons and Asda would be a more realistic comparison tool should they get into Aus

[VileTraveller]

Wow, indeed, although Aldi is probably an extreme example. Continental European companies tend to have a bit more social conscience than their counterparts in the English-speaking world. Otherwise, the article doesn't really say that much more than most others that deal with the subject. There's no doubt that no-one is in New Zealand for the money! My better half and I fully expect to be taking a hefty pay cut when it's time for us to make the move, and we won't go for it unless we know we have enough saved up to be settled comfortably and mortgage-free. I honestly can't imagine what it must be like for a native New Zealander with that property prices vs. salary disparity ...

[SueDonim]

Out of curiosity then, could a business gain a meaningful competitive advantage in NZ by paying more than the competition? Would they get the cream of the crop by increasing salary and obtain greater revenues to counter it?

I don't mean this as a challenge, but rather as a thought experiment. Could a company begin to change this on their own, and profit by doing so?

If so, it might create some interesting opportunities.

[Fletchaman]

Out of curiosity then, could a business gain a meaningful competitive advantage in NZ by paying more than the competition? Would they get the cream of the crop by increasing salary and obtain greater revenues to counter it?

I don't mean this as a challenge, but rather as a thought experiment. Could a company begin to change this on their own, and profit by doing so?

If so, it might create some interesting opportunities.

It would all boil down to what the competition commission was like in NZ if they allow constructive competition to reduce the monopoly of the 2 biggest food retailers in NZ then you could see a very happy price war for the consumer

[sophiedb]

I would love to see Aldi in NZ, but maybe that's just the familiarity factor (and remembering how they fit into the UK and Aussie markets when they first arrived - a little shake-up of the complacent status quo always makes me grin).

[Fern01]

I honestly can't imagine what it must be like for a native New Zealander with that property prices vs. salary disparity ... __________________

If they want to own their own home, they cut their cloth to suit. But like everything else, it depends on what is a priority and what the reality is. That's why state homes were built many years ago.

[oz2010]

ALDI and LIDL in UK are the biggest payers of the retail industry, but boy do you work for it, my friend is a store manager and does minimum 13 hour days, and he has to stack shelves work the till, and manage the store and its personell.

Tesco, Morrisons and Asda would be a more realistic comparison tool should they get into Aus

Exactly.Working your guts out for Aldi is not a long term career move. Aldi in Australia is still well behind Coles and Safeway Supermarkets and not many people shop there to be honest. Their customer service is not good.

[guzzis3]

There is tremendous wage disparity in Australia. It's well and good to say $60k is the average but the median would be more indicative. The average is dragged up by a few on very big money in sydney and to a lesser extent melbourne. There are a lot of people on or near the minimum wage here especially in the reigons.

When I was a unix sys admin in about 2002 I was offered literally triple my wage to move back to sydney. Extreme case but just goes to show. We are a nation of have's and have not's. I have, but I would prefer to have less and others have more.

Money isn't everything.