Job salaries...NZ Higher

[WANZLittles]

I have donw allot of research and it seems the people with my qualifications seem to be getting paid higher in NZ, like 20k-40k more. Have any of you found the same thing? and of course I have taken into account the conversion rate....

[KiwiChar]

I noticed that as well which was definately a factor in accepting the job offer!

[skywatcher]

I have donw allot of research and it seems the people with my qualifications seem to be getting paid higher in NZ, like 20k-40k more. Have any of you found the same thing? and of course I have taken into account the conversion rate....

I suppose it's all a question of supply and demand in reality. There are some professions where salaries in NZ are lower, some are higher. If you are in the latter category then consider yourself lucky. Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle so I'm not arguing about that although there is a price to be paid for the whole immigaration malarkey, medicals, visas, shipping, flights, etc.

[BigRed]

Remember the exchange rate comes into play. A weak US dollar will make jobs in New Zealand seem more attractive by comparison, but it might not mean much if it doesn't buy you any more over here than your old salary did in the US. Also, if the rate changes you may find the salary becomes less attractive by that same comparison.

For example, when I first researched coming to NZ several years ago the exchange rate was 3NZD to 1GBP. This meant that a fairly impressive salary of $90k in New Zealand only equated to 30k in the UK, which was less than what I was earning at the time, but my research led me to believe that it would still buy me more in New Zealand than what I could afford in the UK.

Now that I've finally made the move the exchange rate is only 2NZD to 1GBP, which means that the salary I'm on now is more or less equivalent to what I would be making in the UK, but really in relative terms it still means I can buy more than what I could afford in the UK. If the exchange rate goes back to 3 to 1 I will be earning significantly less than I could be making in the UK, but it still doesn't affect what I can buy here (and more significantly, the beautiful house I can afford to live in).