Australian New Minimum Wage Rate Takes Effect Today, July 1
Today. Australia's new minimum wage rate, from AU$606.40 a week to AU$622 a week, take effect. But it is really enough?
Although Australia is one of nine countries that enjoys by far a higher minimum wage over its counterpart workers from the U.S., the cost of living however in Down Under could also be maddeningly expensive.
Based on latest statistics released by www.studyinaustralia.gov.au, it showed:
Accommodation
- Hostels and Guesthouses-AU$80 toAU$135 per week
- Shared Rental- AU$70 to AU$250 per week
- On campus- AU$80 to AU$250 per week
- Homestay- AU$110 to AU$270 per week
- Rental- AU$100 to AU$400 per week
- Boarding schools- AU$10,000 to AU$20,000 a year
Other living expenses
- Groceries and eating out- AU$80 to AU$200 per week
- Gas, electricity- AU$60 to AU$100 per week
- Phone and Internet- AU$20 to AU$50 per week
- Public transport- AU$10 to AU$50 per week
- Car (after purchase)- AU$150 to AU$250 per week
- Entertainment- AU$50 to AU$100 per week
Investment bank Deutsche Bank had even said earlier that Australia is definitely one of the most expensive places in the world.
''Clothes, food, alcohol, make-up, it's often half the price over there,'' Laura Dainton Smith, mental health researcher, earlier told the Sydney Morning Herald.
''We have to plan and budget a lot more carefully to be able to have the things that we could take for granted in the U.S.,'' Ms Smith, who had gone back to Australia after living in the US for a year earlier, said.
Granted on June 3, the new minimum wage was still less than what the minimum wage workers wanted but was already overboard than what the business groups can afford.
Minimum wage workers wanted an AU$30 a week increase, while the business groups only wanted to give $5.80 a week.
The new additional pay raise was an increase of AU$15.80 per week, or AU$16.37 per hour, 2.6 per cent hike over the last mandated wages.
