Australia: Wages Tempt New Zealanders

New Zealanders are being lured to Australia in record numbers and the latest wage figures partially explain why according to a report from stuff.co.nz. Australian full-time workers earned an average of $A1162 ($NZ1350) per week in the year to November, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. That compares with the New Zealand average weekly income of $NZ667 from the last Statistics New Zealand survey.

Better pay is cited as one of the major reasons for the increasing drift of New Zealanders across the Tasman to Australia. According to recent Statistics New Zealand figures, the trans-Tasman outflow of permanent and long-term New Zealand migrants exceeded the inflow of Australians by almost 28,000 last year, the highest since 1988. Last year, 41,634 New Zealand citizens migrated to Australia “permanently or long term”. New Zealand’s net loss increased by 7000 from the previous year.

Australia’s booming mining and construction industries bumped up the nation’s average wage figures. Mining workers are officially Australia’s highest paid employees, taking home an average of nearly $A2000 per week. Construction workers’ wages increased by 10 per cent to an average of $A1222 per week, while property and business services recorded a 9.5 per cent increase to an average of $A1239. Workers in the accommodation, cafe and restaurant industry earned an average of $A849 per week, and the retail industry an average of $A892.

Australian men in full-time employment earned an average of $A1248 a week (up 4.9 percent) and women $A1009 (up 5.2 percent) in the past year.

In New Zealand, the weekly average for all part-time and full-time workers was $NZ832 for men (up 10.4 percent) and $NZ510 for women (up 7.8 per cent).