Australian economy gains 1,100 jobs in May, jobless rate flat at 5.5%

Jonesy I think you just hit the nail on the head - we have been prosperous and we have been living a little bit too well compared to most of the world. Just look at France! Luckily our govt is a little bit wiser (not as socialist) than the French govt. In an ideal world we all want everybody to have a good standard of living but in reality we just can't afford that.

Still I disagree that prices can't go a lot lower (no offence just a discussion). When people and businesses have no more money, they will have to sell everything at whatever price they can get to minimize their loss.

Although I'm an employee and I'm happy and lucky to have a good salary, i believe that our labour cost is way too high for Australia to be competitive to the global world.

 

Agree. Sadly those rational and intelligent people may not have good enough communication skills like Gillard's and may not be able to play office politics well enough to be in those high govt positions?

 

communications skills? she communicates well with herself I suppose :/

 

I know a few electrical contractors in QLD mines. Their contracts have been cancelled, and they've been offered permanent positions at half their previous rate. Apparently it's quite common in many mines now.

 

This has been quite prevalent across many industries for the past couple of years but - to me at least - an important thing to note is the benefits of wage rate flexibility. If wages can boom during the tight times and slump when labour supply is prevalent then everyone can cope better - businesses and employees. Contrast this to the standard public service/union line that wages cannot/should not fall and you have a one-way ratchet that is sluggish to respond upwards (to the detriment of the worker's pay) but near impossible to correct downwards (to the detriment of the workers job).

 

Offering a permanent job to a contractor at a much lower rate is pretty standard in the mining industry.

The selling point used to be the "job for life" with one of the big mining houses. 6 weeks leave, extra super, cheap health etc etc etc

I am contracted into one of the big miners at the moment, when they offered me a permanent spot, it was a $60k drop from my current contract rate. I made the decision to decline.

The thing is, the company is laying off permanent staff, but as a contractor, i'm still working. so the job for life "line" is out the window.

Second thing is , in 1 year, i take $36k in the hand more that the staff guy in the office next to me. so, I took the gamble, and have just finished paying my "productive farmland" off

As for miners being overpaid, it's about the only industry i know that shares the wealth with the workers, imagine if the banks paid their clerks according to their profits! I enable the company i'm contracted to , to make huge $$, why shouldn't i be compensated well?

The mining boom won't last forever, but those that were smart enough to get onboard and did something smart with the $$, will be streets ahead of the rest. Good luck to them.