Last night TV3 reported on Don Brash leading a new taskforce to decrease the income gap between New Zealand and Australia. http://www.3news.co.nz/News/NationalNews/Don-Brashs-new-taskforce-to-tackle-the-trans-Tasman-income-gap/tabid/423/articleID/113412/cat/64/Default.aspx
Now I knew the gap was large, but not this large:
Last year the average Kiwi wage after tax was $32,000 a year, while in Australia, the average wage was NZ$49,000 – around 38 percent higher.
$17k per year in NZ Dollars difference, or $326.92 per week more, or $46.70 per day more. That is not a gap that is a gulf. How did it ever get that far apart in the first place?
Last year, over 48,000 Kiwis left New Zealand for Australia to experience its brighter beaches and bigger pay packets.
And I can’t blame them, the cost of living may be more (I may do a post investigating this if I can find the data) but increase in pay surely justifies it.
