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Thread: Salary levels in NZ?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Wales. UK
    Posts
    95

    Default Salary levels in NZ?

    Hi All,

    We are considering the move to NZ.

    I have investigated the job sites and can find work for myself as a computer programmer but the sites conveniently leave out the little detail of salary.

    Does anyone out there have any idea on what salary levels are like in this industry - and hoe do they compare against living costs compared with the UK?

    Steve & Lynn

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Tauranga
    Posts
    932

    Default

    Hi Steve & Lynn,

    Don't know if you've already looked at this but it may help if you haven't.

    http://www.enz.org/earnings-new-zealand-main.html

    John

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Wales. UK
    Posts
    95

    Default Salaries

    Hello John,

    Thanks for this.

    I wouldn't fare too badly acccording to that.

    What are living costs like?


    Steve

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Tauranga
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    932

    Default

    Hi Steve,
    I can't give you first hand experience as I'm not out there yet, but as a guide try looking here...............

    http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML

    There are quite a few of us poms already over in NZ and I'm sure if you sit tight they will get back to you and the answers will come your way.



    John

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    West Auckland
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    Default

    You could try http://www.hays.co.uk/uk/index.jsp?C...tm&type=js

    This site gives a rough idea of salaries.

    HTH
    Debs

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Inland Canterbury, NZ
    Posts
    8,390

    Default

    Hubby (Woz) is in IT - we are in Chch. Not a huge amount of I.T / software dev positions here compared to Auckland / Welly.

    You can expect c. $55 - $75k starting salary for s/w dev roles - although it really depends on the type/size of company and your area of expertise (i.e. .NET seems to be in demand here).

    Best salaries and more vacancies can be found in Auckland / Welly. Sorry, can't comment on salary levels for those areas.

    PM me/Woz if you want more detail on the Chch I.T. scene.

    We find cost of living comparable to UK except with a third of the income - although hopefully you'll be relatively mortgage / loan free which helps!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    christchurch (formerly essex)
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    2,749

    Default

    living costs are higher that you would expect. I have been chatting to loads of english people in the ski shop and the reoccuring theme seems to be the poor wages paid to employed trades men and the fact the cost of living is higher than expected. Its fair to say that meat, ins, petrol eating out are all much cheaper than the uk. but general groceries are pretty much the same as uk, electicity is dear, furniture seems dear, rent seems expensive and as a general rule wages are lower. I think that most of us on the forum are of the mind that you don't come to NZ to get rich.

    Its very hard for Pete and I to give a breakdown of normal house running costs as we run a backpackers and a ski/snowboard shop and live on site at the backpackers, so someone else will have to do that. I do know that I wince when I find one of the backpackers in the double room has left the oil filled rads on in the bedrooms when they have been out all day. Our food shopping is also pretty erratic depending on whether we have time to shop carefully.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Kent UK 2 Northshore NZ
    Posts
    659

    Default

    Hi all.
    We are in a similar possition to Steve, OH in IT but that is such a vast area that it is difficult to get any clartity over possible salaries for him.
    There has been alot of realy useful, if frightening info on the cost of living in NZ and I'm now worried that we won't be able to afford to live out there.
    We don't want to live it up but also don't want to have to count every penny. I feel I must be missing a piece of the puzzle: NZ salaries are reportedly lower than UK, (presumably for kiwis as well as immigrants), and yet the general idea I get from postings is that the cost of living, excluding housing, is virtually comparable to the UK. As most kiwis and a lot of immigrants will have a mortgage / rent to pay as well as daily living how are they managing?. I haven't noticed the majority of kiwis being on the bread line especially around Auckland (the city of sails, not a cheap hobby).
    What am I missing, am I reading to much doom into the cost of living posts? It definatly seems that skilled trades persons get a very poor deal in salaries but is the story better for other professions? :?

    Any feed back would be great, sorry if I've hi-jacked your thread steve.

    thanks Debbie

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    West Auckland
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    Debbie - can I just say that I don't recall many people feeling too hard done by when I lived there eight years ago. Mind you, most of my friends were young and single, no kids! Funny how much further money went (or seemed to go anyway) in those days!! Admittedly we used to buy cheap bubbly to down before a night out because drinks in clubs were so expensive. But I know of people doing that in this country too. I didn't really struggle to pay the rent etc. Friends of mine (nurses) managed to buy houses on a nurses salary without working overtime to pay the mortgage - something that certainly wouldn't happen here in London. I was stunned when I got to London to discover nurses not choosing but having to work extra in order to get by.
    I don't know, I guess it depends what you want out of life. We have kind of gotten into the 'I want it and I want it now' culture. You know, where you go and buy now pay later. Whereas in NZ I would've saved till I could afford to get what I wanted. I hope we go back to saving for things we want when we settle in NZ. It'll be made easier with much less of the 0% credit cards and interest rates and buy now pay in 6 months.

    Just my humble observations and opinions.

    Debs

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Oxford (Canterbury)
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    283

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    Our first impressions are that if you try to live a similar lifestyle to what you had in the UK, then cost of living is probably higher, but generally wage levels are lower.

    Having said that, having been here for a nearly a month now we're pretty confident we can adjust and have a pretty comfortable lifestyle here.

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