3 ms·

"A 20-year-old off the street can come up to the Pilbara and earn A$92,000 a year," says Boxy. The median household income in Australia is A$67,000. Talk about

by scn 16y ago

"A 20-year-old off the street can come up to the Pilbara and earn A$92,000 a year," says Boxy. The median household income in Australia is A$67,000. Talk about inflationary pressures.

nl 16y ago
Those jobs are well paid for a reason. They are in the middle of nowhere (unless you've been there you have no idea how isolated the Pilbara is), and the climate is less than ideal: The climate of the Pilbara is semi-arid and arid, with high temperatures and low irregular rainfall that follows the summer cyclones. During the summer months, maximum temperatures exceed 32°C (90°F) almost every day, and temperatures in excess of 45°C (113°F) are not uncommon. The Pilbara town of Marble Bar set a world record of most consecutive days of maximum temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more, during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924.[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara In the non-open cut mines, many jobs are underground and a lot of people don't seem to cope well with being 1km underground. A few well-paid jobs don't create inflation on their own. The inflation rate remains a steady 3%.
- scn 16y ago
  I'm not saying they're easy jobs but two weeks on one off with no expenses for the two weeks on makes for a lot of disposable income even without those salaries. Inflation remains a steady 3% with a cash rate of 4.5% way above comparable economies, with a high chance of further raises. People not in the mining industry can't expect to compete with the salaries they're earning and the high interest rates and Australian dollar are hurting households and other exports. Housing prices in Perth: http://reiwa.com.au/res/res-salesgraph-display.cfm http://reiwa.com.au/res/res-salesgraph-display.cfm Does that look sustainable?
  - nl 16y ago
    Our rates aren't high by Australian historical standards: http://www.loansense.com.au/historical-rates.html http://www.loansense.com.au/historical-rates.html Regarding the house price graph, I think you are being misled slightly by the scale. If you magnified the 1978-1993 graph it would look very similar - a HUGE ramp up in the prices in the late 1980's, and then stagnant in the early 1990's. Compare that to how the current graph looks: HUGE ramp up in 2003-2007, and then stagnant. I agree with what you are saying about the inequalities of mining salaries and the problems with the crowding out effect. I think that contributes more to the stratification of society rather than inflation, though.
- scn 16y ago
  Between the start of the mining boom to the onset of the global financial crisis: annual price inflation in Perth averaged 4.0 per cent, compared to the national annual average of 3.3 per cent; Perth rents increased by two-thirds more than the national average; and Perth house prices grew by 14 per cent a year, almost triple the national average growth rate. http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6884 http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6884
JabavuAdams 16y ago
What's the catch? I mean do they actually have trouble finding people to do these jobs?
brc 16y ago
It's a free market for jobs. Anyone can choose to do it. There's plenty of people in IT making good salaries, but you don't hear about anyone trying to stop that. The age of the recipient is unrelated. It might hurt for some, but worse would be some kind of intervention to prevent what you see as a problem. That would end up hurting all. You see inflation, I see strength in the job market, a strong economy, a prosperous nation. There is far more risk of inflation from continued government borrowings than from some people making good money in the mines. The worst outcome would be to try and rein in the mining industry somehow. That would create all types of unintended consequences, all bad.

by scn 16y ago

"A 20-year-old off the street can come up to the Pilbara and earn A$92,000 a year," says Boxy. The median household income in Australia is A$67,000. Talk about inflationary pressures.

nl 16y ago

Those jobs are well paid for a reason. They are in the middle of nowhere (unless you've been there you have no idea how isolated the Pilbara is), and the climate is less than ideal: The climate of the Pilbara is semi-arid and arid, with high temperatures and low irregular rainfall that follows the summer cyclones. During the summer months, maximum temperatures exceed 32°C (90°F) almost every day, and temperatures in excess of 45°C (113°F) are not uncommon. The Pilbara town of Marble Bar set a world record of most consecutive days of maximum temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more, during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924.[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilbara In the non-open cut mines, many jobs are underground and a lot of people don't seem to cope well with being 1km underground. A few well-paid jobs don't create inflation on their own. The inflation rate remains a steady 3%.

scn 16y ago
I'm not saying they're easy jobs but two weeks on one off with no expenses for the two weeks on makes for a lot of disposable income even without those salaries. Inflation remains a steady 3% with a cash rate of 4.5% way above comparable economies, with a high chance of further raises. People not in the mining industry can't expect to compete with the salaries they're earning and the high interest rates and Australian dollar are hurting households and other exports. Housing prices in Perth: http://reiwa.com.au/res/res-salesgraph-display.cfm http://reiwa.com.au/res/res-salesgraph-display.cfm Does that look sustainable?
- nl 16y ago
  Our rates aren't high by Australian historical standards: http://www.loansense.com.au/historical-rates.html http://www.loansense.com.au/historical-rates.html Regarding the house price graph, I think you are being misled slightly by the scale. If you magnified the 1978-1993 graph it would look very similar - a HUGE ramp up in the prices in the late 1980's, and then stagnant in the early 1990's. Compare that to how the current graph looks: HUGE ramp up in 2003-2007, and then stagnant. I agree with what you are saying about the inequalities of mining salaries and the problems with the crowding out effect. I think that contributes more to the stratification of society rather than inflation, though.
scn 16y ago
Between the start of the mining boom to the onset of the global financial crisis: annual price inflation in Perth averaged 4.0 per cent, compared to the national annual average of 3.3 per cent; Perth rents increased by two-thirds more than the national average; and Perth house prices grew by 14 per cent a year, almost triple the national average growth rate. http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6884 http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6884

JabavuAdams 16y ago

What's the catch? I mean do they actually have trouble finding people to do these jobs?

brc 16y ago

It's a free market for jobs. Anyone can choose to do it. There's plenty of people in IT making good salaries, but you don't hear about anyone trying to stop that. The age of the recipient is unrelated. It might hurt for some, but worse would be some kind of intervention to prevent what you see as a problem. That would end up hurting all. You see inflation, I see strength in the job market, a strong economy, a prosperous nation. There is far more risk of inflation from continued government borrowings than from some people making good money in the mines. The worst outcome would be to try and rein in the mining industry somehow. That would create all types of unintended consequences, all bad.