Ifo Apple Store:
Employees of Apple’s retail stores in Australia have reached agreement with the company on a four-year contract that covers pay, benefits and working conditions, but retail observers say Apple’s offer was barely over the retail industry’s current averages, and includes just two percent annual raises.
When the agreement becomes effective this November 1st, starting pay for full-time Level 1 employees will be $20.95 per hour (all rates in U.S. dollars), and Level 2 will start at $25.26. Casual employees will receive 25 percent more per hour to offset fewer benefits. Level 3 employees are management, and will receive a base annual pay of $72,779.
It’s impossible to compare the new Australia pay rates to other regions or countries.
While that’s true and standards of living are different in different countries and cities, it certainly seems, on the face of it at least, that store employees in Australia can make a decent living.
Australia’s minimum wage is supposed to be what you pay someone to be able to make a decent living (buy food, own a home, educate their kids, etc).
Kind of like it was over here in the States, when I first entered the workforce.
I made considerably more money in australia making sandwiches than i did in London working in the Apple Store.
You need two incomes of at least $70000 to make middle class living here. Start dropping below that and things start getting tough fast, as in making ends meet, spiraling credit card debt, having to buy the cheapest home brand foods, and you’re in even bigger trouble if you haven’t managed to get a mortgage because if you can find anything to rent, you’ll struggle to get anything for less than $400ish/week. I don’t know how people can afford houses any more as you’d be struggling to find a house below $400000. One million is rapidly becoming the average anywhere near Sydney, even for two bedroom semi detached century old houses with no garage.
Just check our classifieds, bearing in mind virtually all the listed estimates are low balled to attract interest. This blowout in our housing market (taking many things along for the ride) is largely due to an influx of foreign money that our free market government allows making it more and more difficult for average Australians to cope.
Welcome to Vancouver, BC (and many other major cities).
Hell, welcome to New Jersey. NJ used to be New York’s affordable-housing program.
Now Pennsylvania is New Jersey’s affordable-housing program.
Hi Shawn, I wasn’t suggesting that Sydney was more expensive than other places, just trying to put the new wages in perspective.