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One in five Australian renters are living without essential items and in poverty, peak body study finds (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 2 days ago by melbaboutown@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
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[-] Nath@aussie.zone 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We're paying $39k/year for a 3x2. There are full time jobs out there paying less than that. Yes, we're in a nice location, but awful locations are not that much cheaper.

I am not surprised many people are doing it tough. The median salary in Australia is currently $80k. Take $16.5k for tax and you're left with $63.5k take-home. Say you find a cheap house to rent at only $30k/ year ($575/week - doable for now, but you're likely far from town).

Now your family is living on $33.5k for the year. Less than $650 a week for everything else. Food, transport, utilities, etc.

$80k was a good salary 10 years ago. I don't know how you could raise a family on it, today. And half of Australia is making less than that!

[-] dgriffith@aussie.zone 10 points 2 days ago

$80k was a good salary 10 years ago. I don't know how you could raise a family on it, today. And half of Australia is making less than that!

You can do it, but:

  • You can't live within 1.5 hours of capital cities or major regional cities.
  • You can't live in a mining town.
  • You can't live in a tourist town.

Unfortunately all the left over places have shit job opportunities, shit services, and are generally classified as shit areas as a result.

So until you advance enough in a career that you can pull a tree change to somewhere less pricey and still keep your income, you're screwed.

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah that 'average salary' is lies damned lies and statistics

The actual median personal income is around $58k

[-] Cypher@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

When you break it down by region it makes a bit more sense but plenty of people are still doing it tough.

[-] Nath@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

I admit that I was surprised that $80k was median salary - I just asked Google "Median Salary Australia" and didn't follow the links etc. Your source is great, but three financial years old. Seek reckon the current median salary is $65k, though their ads probably skew a tad high. It isn't enough of a difference from $58k to argue much over.

$58k or $65k (or even $80k), it doesn't change the point I was making: It is not at all surprising that people are doing it tough.

[-] imoldgreeeg@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah there are a couple of metrics. The main two are the median salary of all adults which includes a lot of people not in the workforce (zero wage) and then the median salary for anyone "employed" (working any hours) which would be higher.

Dunno what the latest number are but at a guess mid 50s looks like the total median and 80ish is the median of job holders

(.median is used because mean is skewed by outliers like billionaires. Median means half of the people measured are below and half above)

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago

oh I wasn't disagreeing with you, just pointing out the disingenuousness of "average wages". Stick musk and ten unemployed people in a room and the average person in there earns billions. We really need to kill that shit, it's used to infer that people are doing it rough due to "poor choices" rather than we're all middle class citizens absolutely taking it up the arse without lube

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Is a 3x1 a 3 bedroom 1 bath apartment?

[-] StudChud@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago

Yes. A 3x1 = 3bed and 1bath. 3x2 = 3bed 2 bath, and so on. Doesn't have to be apartment or house specific either. My current apartment is 2x1 and the house I was renting previously was 3x1.

this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2024
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