Working in New Zealand

[horvendile]

IIRC there are some New Zealanders here.
A friend of mine is lobbying heavily that we (meaning a bunch of people) should move to New Zealand. I'm actually more tempted by the idea than I thought I would be and did some surfing yesterday. One worrying thing though is salaries. I only found quite limited data, but what I found suggested that salaries - unbelievable as it may sound to me at least - are even lower than in Sweden. Now, I would be the first one to agree that money isn't everything and my goal is not to be filthy rich no matter what other costs, but it'll have to be a damn nice country if I'll move to significantly lower salaries.

Anyway, the question is: Let's just assume that I get a work permit and a job. Does anyone know what rather freshly graduates with a Master of Science can expect to earn? And the bonus question: What if one has a Ph.D?
If that helps, my area of expertise (to the extent that such a thing can be claimed when graduating) is most things connected to light (classical optics, lasers, fibre optics) and a little bit of semiconductor physics.

Thanks in advance,
Horvendile

 

[StefanS]

IIRC there are some New Zealanders here.
A friend of mine is lobbying heavily that we (meaning a bunch of people) should move to New Zealand. I'm actually more tempted by the idea than I thought I would be and did some surfing yesterday. One worrying thing though is salaries. I only found quite limited data, but what I found suggested that salaries - unbelievable as it may sound to me at least - are even lower than in Sweden. Now, I would be the first one to agree that money isn't everything and my goal is not to be filthy rich no matter what other costs, but it'll have to be a damn nice country if I'll move to significantly lower salaries.

While I am not from NZ, you should check, if the living expenses are considerable lower or not and how much tax New Zealanders pay on the average. The average pay usually only tells half the story...

 

[horvendile]

you should check, if the living expenses are considerable lower or not and how much tax New Zealanders pay on the average. The average pay usually only tells half the story...

In many cases yes, even though not even the tax rate tells that much (you may have low taxes but then have to pay for a lot of other things). But when buying imported goods (such as graphics cards ) or potentially moving back to Sweden bringing along your savings, absolute numbers become important.

 

[StefanS]

you should check, if the living expenses are considerable lower or not and how much tax New Zealanders pay on the average. The average pay usually only tells half the story...

In many cases yes, even though not even the tax rate tells that much (you may have low taxes but then have to pay for a lot of other things). But when buying imported goods (such as graphics cards ) or potentially moving back to Sweden bringing along your savings, absolute numbers become important.

That's definitely true. It's actually quite funny here in Austria: You'll get your monthly pay 14 times (and the so called 13th and 14th payment are taxfree). This is often neglected in international comparisons...

 

[drspangle]

Hi there

This doesn`t give much specific to your field, but there is some things to read/compare http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/CDF2ACB2-BE92-4EE6-8E21-9F419FD183CD/0/Work.pdf

I don`t have any definit numbers, as I am only starting University this Year (BE)

I just spent an hour looking online and i cant find sh*t about specific salaries/wages. Things I can tell you: You are paid every 2 weeks normally, from what I can tell, $32,000 is the lowest you can expect to earn coming straight out of university in Engineering/Science fields, but don`t hold me to that as I can`t find any sources for average payment or anything :?

Sorry I can`t be more of a help.

 

[horvendile]

Incidentally, that pdf is just the data I found!
But nevertheless, thanks for taking the trouble.

 

[Simon F]

Things I can tell you: You are paid every 2 weeks normally,.

I found it strange moving from Australia, where I got paid every week, to the UK where you get paid monthly and in arrears. The very first month was a bit tough!

 

[drspangle]

Ooh found something, not sure how good it is but I`ll dig through the links to see if there is anything relevant (this is important for me too - I need to start planning for my retirement )

http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/stats/nz_pacific/nzsources3.htm#Income &

 

[drspangle]

Ok here is a good site, gove job names/duties/range of pay

http://www.careers.co.nz/lists/jobs/talpfrm.htm
(Employment Conditions lists the payment and some have distribution graphs of pay.

 

[StefanS]

Ok here is a good site, gove job names/duties/range of pay

http://www.careers.co.nz/lists/jobs/talpfrm.htm
(Employment Conditions lists the payment and some have distribution graphs of pay.

This is going to interest horvendile:

 

[drspangle]

Also, something to keep in mind. Auckland is New Zealands largest City and jobs, on average pay more here. BUT house prices have hiked dramatically in the last couple of years and the general price of things tends to be more. Working somewhere like Wellington or Christchurch may not pay as much, but the cost of living will be much reduced.


/edit

Also, from the site:

"The following paragraphs explain the content of the charts and the use of 2001 Census information in KiwiCareers.

Income Chart
The income chart gives the total annual income from all sources for people working full-time at the time of the Census. The income charts only roughly indicate what people earn each year from their occupation because the income measured comes from all sources, not just the main occupation, and because people may have been in their occupation for less than a year at the time they filled out the Census form. "

 

[Humus]

Regarding taxation rates, the NZ taxes are 35% of GDP. Roughly the same as Canada, UK, Spain and Germany. Sweden got 50%. The US is at 29%. This doesn't paint the whole picture, but it's a rough indication.

 

[Nathan]

Anyway, the question is: Let's just assume that I get a work permit and a job. Does anyone know what rather freshly graduates with a Master of Science can expect to earn? And the bonus question: What if one has a Ph.D?

Sorry, but a Master of Science is a pretty worthless degree in NZ, unless it's biology. There are very few jobs that require that qualification. Anyone with a Ph.D is really better of in Europe or the US. NZ is a small country, we don't have any of the large hi-tech industries that are common in the Northern Hemisphere has.

You should only move to NZ if you like the lifestyle there. Don't expect fantastic employment options. Many young, educated NZers are leaving NZ simply because there just aren't enough oppurtunites there. We even have a name for it - "The brain drain". BTW, I'm writing this from California.

 

[drspangle]

Yeah, thats true. I actually plan to only work here for a while, pay off my loans and unless I socre a real sweet pay I`ll probably move to OZ/Canada. Just depends how much the lifestyle is worth to you I guess. (But I`m not a native New Zealander anyway)

 

[horvendile]

Thanks for the informative answers.

It appears that demand for IT specialists is, if not high, at least existing. Some of my friends could possibly claim expertise in that area, but unless NZ is in dire need of advice regarding graphic cards I'm probably out of luck there. Telecom people also seem to be vaguely popular, in which case I needn't twist reality quite as much, but it would still be a long shot.

Oh well, it was a nice fantasy.

(One possibility might be to find a Swedish company with business in NZ, i.e. Ericsson, but that's another story.)