When I was a kid, money equaled cool stuff and freedom to do what I wanted. I was lucky that I didn't have to worry about bills and wasn't really concerned about my ability to make money in the future. As an adult, I wish I had been better informed about finances and economics as I was growing up and moving into the world.
I had no idea how other countries handled their money. Why would I have needed to know? I was just a kid. Right? These days the average person has a better understanding of global economics and how the many countries of the world are all intertwined. It's true: our world is becoming flatter and with that comes knowledge and responsibility.
Ask yourself this: Do you have any idea what the minimum wage is in the United States? Does Kansas have a higher minimum wage than what is required by the federal government? Did you know that states have the option of increasing that minimum wage?
Recently, I discovered that in Australia there is a huge concern that foreign workers are being underpaid. Can you guess how little they're being paid? Would you be surprised to know that it's higher than the minimum wage in the United States? Would you be surprised to learn that the minimum wage in Australia for a full-time adult worker is nearly double our minimum wage? Check out this article, Raw Deal for Sushi Workers, to find out more.
Based on what you've read in the article, what are your impressions of the situation? Would that happen here? What if we increased our minimum wage? Would that have an effect on the economy? How does this affect your future? Knowing what you know now, would you be more likely to consider working abroad?
I think that this is awesome in Australia getting paid more than minimum wage. But I wonder why they think it isn't enough. I mean if we increased the pay of people there will be much less hobos and more houses to be put in. Cause Australia is finical i will say, but it would be awesome because you get paid more. And they think that it isn't enough which means they are kinda snooty from our point of view.
ReplyDeleteI think that since Australia and the USA are two different countries there might be a difference in how they think about their money. For example here in the United States our economy is down so any money for us would be good no matter how much. But in Australia they might be used to getting a lot of money so when they receive less money it becomes a problem.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good thing that Australia is getting paid more than minimum wage. Why isn't it enough though? I think increasing the minimum wage here is a bad idea because we already owe so much money to China and other countries. There's upsides to it but a HUGE down side.
ReplyDeleteAustralia's payroll tax is different in every state. For example, in South Whales the payroll tax just dropped .05% from 5.5% to 5.45%. Also, If you are a non-resident you do not have to pay income tax. Considering the countries poverty line (for a single person, including housing) of $8.94 per hour, I think that compared to the United States, the minimum wage in Australia is a bit high.
ReplyDeleteI think it is good for Australia to be getting more than us. Because it seems to me that Australia has more work options. I would think that because it is a really hot place and a lot of people need jobs to have water and food to stay cool or warm. And in the US there isn't as much hot weather as Australia, so our minimum wage is less.
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ReplyDeleteI just hope that their government can do something about this situation. I really can't say much about this situation because I'm not really concerned about this situation.
ReplyDeleteI think that kids need to learn more about keeping there money safe and knowing what you are going to do in your future. It also depends on what age you start to do that. I think the right time is around seven to learn about it and around 10 11 to start to worry about it. I think it is weird because the minimum wage in australia is twice ours. When I tell people that I need to tell them that we only get half of our minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's possible in some of these places money isn't worth as it is here or in different countries. So maybe they don't need to be payed that much an hour.
ReplyDeleteOk, so what I don't get is that Australia has nearly the same exchange rate as the U.S. yet they get paid way more than us. Plus, even if they have a little higher bills than us, it's still a lot more than needed to pay the bills. Do they just go on huge shopping sprees or am I missing an important factor here?
ReplyDeleteI think several commenters have made some interesting points.
ReplyDeletefallentplc mentioned that the payroll tax differs between states. That's also the case in the US. While there is a federal payroll tax in the US, not every state has a state payroll tax (and those that do vary from state to state).
I wonder why Tyler thinks that increasing the minimum wage in the US will affect the money that our country owes to other countries like China. Would that make a difference? If so, how?
A few people have indicated that it's unfair that the minimum wage is lower in the US and think that Australia should lower theirs as well. I can't help but wonder why. I think it's great that their country wants to make sure that their people have a living wage. Does anybody know what that means?
Kansas Minimum wage: $7.36
ReplyDeleteI think that giving $15 in Australia for minimum wage is good for them. But one question why isn't it enough? Do they have higher prices there than we do? They have double our amount of minimum wage than we do, and we have a lot of financial problems.
I think that if we get more money we would have a lot of problems from other different countries, like Tyler said. I think that Australia should lower their wage.
We have a lot of financial problems. Right now our economy is having a huge financial problem. If we payed people around 14 dollars for minimum wage what would happen to our economy then?
ReplyDeleteThe climate and the minimum wage do have some more relations. Some of the relations are that it is hotter so it would be much harder to work in the heat so that would be one reason to get paid more. Also the US has a lot of financial problems so that would mean we would get paid LESS. But you can't get paid to much. If you get paid to much you will most likely get into financial problems like we are in now, so you wouldn't want to pay to much.
ReplyDeleteI Think it's unfair that the people in Australia get paid more and are complaining. So I think that there pay should be decreased or them learn to live with it because that is completely unfair that there complaining about having double the minimum wage we do. The minimum wage in the United States must be $7.25 an hour if it is half the minimum wage in Australia and the minimum wage in Australia is, $14.50 an hour. The United States has the exact minimum wage that is required by the Federal Government. I knew that the states had the option of changing the minimum wage as they pleased except for they can't have it below $7.25. I would guess that the Australians are being paid $14.00 an hour. I wouldn't be surprised that the minimum wage there is higher because Australia is much nicer that the United States. My impression of the situation is that they should deal with what there being paid because there being paid more there and they're complaining when they shouldn't be, if anyone should be complaining I believe it should be the US because there not being paid as much as the people in Australia. I don't think that we would ever complain that much because there just acting like babies when there doing that. If we increased our minimum wage I think that every one would be happy and that the people in Australia would start demanding more. This could possibly have an effect on the economy. I think this could affect my future because, they could possibly make the minimum wage more in the US. I don't think I would be more likely to consider working abroad.
ReplyDeleteI think that kids need to learn more about keeping there money safe and knowing what you are going to do in your future. It also depends on what age you start to do that. I think the right time is around seven to learn about it and around 10 11 to start to worry about it. I think it is weird because the minimum wage in australia is twice ours. When I tell people that I need to tell them that we only get half of our minimum wage. I do not know much about the minimum wage here or anywhere but I do know it can be a big deal. I would like to know more about this because if it is such a big deal I want to be able to handle it. Also other kids need to know about this.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia the minimum wage is more than two times the minimum wage in america and a lot of people in australia are complaining that they are being underpaid. It sounds like they have nothing to complain about right but we don't know what the economy is like in australia it could be worse than ours but we just don't know. I think kids should be more educated on how the economics apply to you because I know a lot of kids that don't even care about those things and I've been told you don't want to learn things when you have to worry about them.
ReplyDeleteI guess I find it a bit strange that their minimum wage is higher than ours, and they're still complaining about it. I really don't think much would happen if people complained about not being paid enough here (unless it was a big protest thing). That's just what I've assumed based on the Americans I've known. If we increased our minimum wage, I think not so many people would complain, but that might not leave so much money for other things the state/country pays for. Otherwise, I'm not sure if this would affect my future or not. I mean, who knows whats going to be in the future until it comes? I never considered working abroad much in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe minimum wage may be higher in Australia, but in turn the cost of living is higher as well, so it's not that big of a difference in the wages. If the U.S were to up our minimum wage, the economy would go down, and living expenses would most likely increase to balance it out.
ReplyDeleteMinimum wage in Australia is almost double the amount in the United States. That means that everything else like living expenses will be more expensive. It is good that we have lower wages than Australia, because that means we have lower living expense prices.
ReplyDeleteThe minimum wage in Australia is almost twice the amount that it is in the U.S. most likely because living expenses are higher there therefore making the amount of money you make be a higher rate. The only effect increasing minimum wage in America would be expenses would become more expensive not making much of a difference.
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