A Canadian man living in Australia has been left shocked over how much Aussies get paid in a retail job, adding it’s far more than what he expected.
The expat said before moving to Australia he knew the minium wage was high but he didn’t expect it to be this high.
“Right now I’m looking for work, and I went into a retail place, and I was asking how much they get paid,” he said in a now viral TikTok.
“For their casual work, they get paid $31 an hour. That’s insane. To compare, in Canadian dollars that’s $28 or, in US dollars, it’s $21 an hour.”
“So imagine working at Walmart and making $28 an hour in Canadian [dollars],” he added.
The minimum wage in Australia is $23.23 per hour or $882.80 per 38 hour week (before tax), according to the Fairwork Ombudsman.
It’s compared to $CAD16.65 per hour — $A18.80, while in the US federal minimum is $US7.25 per hour — about $A10.90.
“It’s absolutely crazy out here how much they pay people for labour,” the expat continued.
“The whole work around casual and stuff is insane.”
In another video, he better explained the pay gap and why it’s higher in Australia compared to Canada.
“They have a huge labour shortage here in Australia so everyone’s working for $28 an hour to $29,” he said.
“In some places, if you have experience, [pay] can be $31 to $33 an hour.
“It’s crazy how much you can get if you have experience like as a barista, say.
“Back in Canada, if you’re a barista and you have experience you’d maybe be getting $16 to $17 an hour.
“Whereas here if you’re an experienced barista and you’re good at your job, you can command $30 to $31 an hour which is absolutely crazy.”
However, many Aussies were quick to point out wages weren’t reflective of the cost of living crisis such as escalating rent and grocery costs.
“You forget about the cost of living here. We get paid good but everything is way expensive so it cancels out,” one person wrote.
“Dude, have you seen the price of raspberries?” a second person commented.
A third wrote: “These wages are nothing compared to cost of living,” while a fourth joked: “You have to sell two kidneys to buy a house [in Australia].”
When another Aussie commented about the cost of living being significantly higher, the Canadian replied: “Actually not too bad. If you lived in Toronto or Vancouver it would be more than Melbourne.”
Others agreed with the expat saying other parts of the world faced similar situations.
“All the comments of people saying expenses are so high here … things are just as expensive in North America if not worse in some cities,” one person wrote.
”Everyone saying cost of living is high, guess what it’s high everywhere!,” another said.