We need to talk wages

Discussion in 'Property Market Economics' started by hammer, 29th May, 2019.

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  1. sumterrence

    sumterrence Well-Known Member

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    A complex set of measurements.......but basically it goes by your overall performance ranking.... The higher you rank the higher the payrise.
     
  2. Dean Collins

    Dean Collins Well-Known Member

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    If you live in NY/LA etc....cost of living is very similar to Sydney.

    If you live anywhere else in the USA.....cost of living is way way cheaper due to how cheap accommodation is in #Tier2Cities.

    Its our intention to retire into a rural situation when we come back to Australia and its crazy how expensive rural locations are to buy or rent, I think the difference is in the USA there are 20x the number of rural towns where as country Australia is still very under-developed.

    Eg do a google at what $300k gets you in Waco Texas and then compare it to $300k in Orange NSW.

    Yes wages are cheaper (especially for menial work) but I think the standard of living for medium to low income people (eg not min income/poor) in Texas and Florida is way better than Australia.

    With the China tariffs will that change.....based on my $WMT shares today.....possibly so.
     
  3. Coxy89

    Coxy89 Well-Known Member

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    Except if you get sick right? Most common cause of bankruptcy in USA is medical bills...
     
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  4. abc

    abc Active Member

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    This is a nuanced point in US.
    • For poorer people, unemployed people (esp. under age of 65), people working in non white-collar and service industries, and other similar groups this is certainly true. Although this group would be susceptible to financial ruin for any major setback. There is some variance of this by state with but the ultimate issue is no broad society safety net for healthcare meaning that this can happen

    • For white-collar workers, unionized workers, seniors, veterans, and others with means or more forward looking employers, healthcare is wholly/mostly/largely paid for by employer/organization/government so this is far more unlikely to happen. Any part that is personally paid also can be mostly pre-tax for insurance. Some states and cities also do have mini safety-nets too. In these situations, the total out of pocket healthcare costs in US for a normal healthy(ish) person with regular annual visits could be far less than Australian paying themselves for private health insurance.
    From a wage growth perspective yes I think Aus is not doing well from a global perspective. The US is at its highest point in 10 yrs for private sector hourly age growth. For the first time in last two or three years or so, the flow on effects have been finally helping the lower tiers of income earners, which is great b/c for most of the past 10 yrs, the gains were were exclusive in top tiers.
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