Is overqualification a concern? That is: if I’m already working toward a Ph.D. and I decide to complete that first, will it work against me in finding hospitality work? (I’d guess such jobs have sufficiently high rotation anyway that the answer is no.)
Do you know if the situation is equally good for more “career-like” jobs? (I.e. instead of making good money without too much strain, can I bust my ass to make even more money?)
Even if both the answers are the less-desired, I’m going to seriously discuss this with my wife.
No. I have a Master’s degree in Software Engineering. Overqualification doesn’t matter.
Do you know if the situation is equally good for more “career-like” jobs? (I.e. instead of making good money without too much strain, can I bust my ass to make even more money?)
Yes and no. Australia has a much narrower pay gap between the lowest and the highest paid workers. For example, where I worked, the lowest paid employee (a non-English speaking room cleaner) made 2/3rds of the salary of the highest paid employee (the head chef). Australia simply outlawed having a working-poor underclass by making their minimum wage $15/hr and indexing it to inflation. Most American economists would probably say that this is impossible and would inevitably cause wide-spread unemployment… without realizing that Australia, Japan, and New Zealand have already done it and it works.
To answer your question more specifically: Yes, you can earn absurd amounts of money in Australia if you really want to work hard. The mining industry there pays people something like $200k / yr to sit at computers and order mining machines around. Modern mines in 1st world nations are run by a handful of people working hard but not physically doing the mining themselves. I’ve heard it’s hard to break into this field but you could do it if you really wanted.
Most American economists would probably say that this is impossible and would inevitably cause wide-spread unemployment
Actually most economists from all over the world would agree that minimum wages do not improve economic conditions. The consensus is that a minimum wage has one of two effects: either it does nothing, because the actual minimum wage determined by the markets are higher, or if the minimum wage determined by the market is lower, it prevents job creation.
Your account in this article suggests that the former situation is the case in Australia now, because you said the minimum wage is $15 but a more typical starting wage is >$18. This was the case too in the US for a long time. When I started working the minimum wage was $5.55 but I started as a fast-food worker at $5.95. The minimum wage was doing nothing.
However, none of this detracts from the excellent opportunities available in Australia.
Employment is a transaction, where the employer is willing to pay up to X and the employee willing to work for no less than Y. For jobs where the minimum wage is greater than X it kills the job, but when it is less than X but more than Y it can force more of the surplus from the employment transaction to go to the employee. Obviously it’s hard to set the right minimum wage for all jobs in a large economy.
Also, it’s my understanding that people working above but near the minimum wage usually get raises when the minimum wage goes up; the minimum wage communicates something about what a worker is supposed to be worth, and telling your employees they are the bottom of the barrel is probably bad for morale, and thus, productivity. So the minimum wage can affect wages even if they aren’t at the minimum wage.
Is overqualification a concern? That is: if I’m already working toward a Ph.D. and I decide to complete that first, will it work against me in finding hospitality work? (I’d guess such jobs have sufficiently high rotation anyway that the answer is no.)
Do you know if the situation is equally good for more “career-like” jobs? (I.e. instead of making good money without too much strain, can I bust my ass to make even more money?)
Even if both the answers are the less-desired, I’m going to seriously discuss this with my wife.
No. I have a Master’s degree in Software Engineering. Overqualification doesn’t matter.
Yes and no. Australia has a much narrower pay gap between the lowest and the highest paid workers. For example, where I worked, the lowest paid employee (a non-English speaking room cleaner) made 2/3rds of the salary of the highest paid employee (the head chef). Australia simply outlawed having a working-poor underclass by making their minimum wage $15/hr and indexing it to inflation. Most American economists would probably say that this is impossible and would inevitably cause wide-spread unemployment… without realizing that Australia, Japan, and New Zealand have already done it and it works.
To answer your question more specifically: Yes, you can earn absurd amounts of money in Australia if you really want to work hard. The mining industry there pays people something like $200k / yr to sit at computers and order mining machines around. Modern mines in 1st world nations are run by a handful of people working hard but not physically doing the mining themselves. I’ve heard it’s hard to break into this field but you could do it if you really wanted.
Actually most economists from all over the world would agree that minimum wages do not improve economic conditions. The consensus is that a minimum wage has one of two effects: either it does nothing, because the actual minimum wage determined by the markets are higher, or if the minimum wage determined by the market is lower, it prevents job creation.
Your account in this article suggests that the former situation is the case in Australia now, because you said the minimum wage is $15 but a more typical starting wage is >$18. This was the case too in the US for a long time. When I started working the minimum wage was $5.55 but I started as a fast-food worker at $5.95. The minimum wage was doing nothing.
However, none of this detracts from the excellent opportunities available in Australia.
Employment is a transaction, where the employer is willing to pay up to X and the employee willing to work for no less than Y. For jobs where the minimum wage is greater than X it kills the job, but when it is less than X but more than Y it can force more of the surplus from the employment transaction to go to the employee. Obviously it’s hard to set the right minimum wage for all jobs in a large economy.
Also, it’s my understanding that people working above but near the minimum wage usually get raises when the minimum wage goes up; the minimum wage communicates something about what a worker is supposed to be worth, and telling your employees they are the bottom of the barrel is probably bad for morale, and thus, productivity. So the minimum wage can affect wages even if they aren’t at the minimum wage.