Savings question exposes young Aussie - as new data reveals how much YOU should be earning: 'How's she so broke?'
The 21-year-old told a street interviewer that she works as a receptionist but hasn't been able to save any money - with 'probably about five dollars' in savings.
'As long as you work, you can kind of maintain, but it's just very expensive at the moment,' she said.
'Not saving earlier would be my biggest regret.'
After watching the video, one viewer asked bluntly, 'How's she so broke?'.
Another viewer responded and explained that receptionists often earn very little at the beginning of their careers.
The woman did not reveal her exact wage, but the average salary for a receptionist is about $65,000 per year.
Australians between 18 and 24 years of age have an average savings balance of $13,069, according to Westpac data from January.
The median balance, however, is just $2,410, meaning the average has likely been skewed by a small percentage of large savings holders.
Money.com.au data showed Australian households were struggling to save much money at all.
The household savings ratio indicated savings had fallen from 24.1 per cent in June 2020 to 0.6 per cent in June 2024.
Adding to the pressure, Daily Mail Australia recently reported that earning $100,000 a year - a salary still out of reach for many young workers such as receptionists - is no longer considered 'good' in the face of rising living costs.
The average, full-time salary stood at $102,742 in November, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed in February.
In the latest data, mining engineers had the highest average, full-time salary of $161,808.
Retail workers typically make $77,802, while hospitality workers are the lowest paid on $74,391.
Average pay levels for full-time workers is now above $100,000 in almost half all of industries, with six figures now typical in eight out of 17 sectors.
Mining ($161,808), telecommunications and media ($130,390), electricity, gas and waste ($122,314), professional, scientific and technical services ($120,630), finance and insurance ($119,090), public administration and safety covering government employees ($107,557), education and training ($107,442) and health and social assistance ($100,890) made the six-figure cut.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
UK and Australia deepen AUKUS submarine pact with 50-year treaty
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would deepen its AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with Australia through a new 50-year treaty that it expected to create jobs and boost British exports. Australia, Britain and the U.S. agreed the AUKUS pact in 2021 to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. However, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a formal review of the pact last month to examine whether it met his "America First" criteria. Australia has said it is confident the partnership will proceed. The new British-Australian treaty will underpin each country's submarine programmes and is expected to be worth up to 20 billion pounds ($27.1 billion) to Britain in exports over the next 25 years, its ministry of defence said. The bilateral treaty comes as Britain's defence and foreign ministers travel to Australia to meet their counterparts as well as visit the northern garrison city of Darwin, as Australia hosts its largest-ever military exercise. "AUKUS is one of Britain's most important defence partnerships, strengthening global security while driving growth at home," British defence minister John Healey said. "This historic treaty confirms our AUKUS commitment for the next half century." At its peak, there will be over 21,000 people in Britain working on the AUKUS programme, Britain said. ($1 = 0.7377 pounds)
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
More bad news for Aussie borrowers as RBA chief makes rates call
The Reserve Bank has declared interest rates won't be slashed in Australia like in other major Commonwealth nations because inflation is still too high. While underlying inflation has eased, Governor Michele Bullock says she needs more evidence that it will stay at the mid-point of the RBA's two to three percent target. The RBA left the cash rate on hold at 3.85 percent on July 8, surprising financial markets and economists, but Ms Bullock said borrowers expecting big rate cuts in 2025 and 2026 would be disappointed. 'Interest rates in Australia did not rise as high as they did in some other economies, and so we may not need to lower them as much on the way down,' she told the Anika Foundation Fundraising Lunch in Sydney on Thursday. 'The board continues to judge that a measured and gradual approach to monetary policy easing is appropriate.' Australia's cash rate now is much higher than Canada 's equivalent 2.75 percent policy rate and New Zealand 's 3.25 percent level. 'Some other countries did raise them much higher. Countries like Canada and New Zealand experienced much higher unemployment,' she said. Australian borrowers are now paying higher rates on their mortgages than homeowners in Canada and New Zealand, despite underlying inflation in May falling to just 2.4 percent. Ms Bullock said more comprehensive June quarter consumer price index data, due out next week, would have to show underlying inflation was much lower than the March quarter's 2.9 percent. 'We expect trimmed mean inflation to fall a little further in the June quarter in year-ended terms,' she said. 'However, the monthly CPI indicator data, which are volatile, suggest that the fall may not be quite as much as we forecast back in May. 'We still think it will show inflation declining slowly towards 2.5 percent, but we are looking for data to support this expectation.' Ms Bullock said Donald Trump's tariffs were now less likely to spark a major global economic slowdown, and that they would warrant more RBA rate cuts to stimulate an already weak Australian economy. 'The likelihood of a severe downside "trade war" appears to have diminished,' she said. But if worse came to worst with the world economy, then the RBA would be more inclined to slash interest rates, like they did during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and 2009. 'There is still uncertainty and unpredictability in the global economy,' Ms Bullock said. 'The board's view is that monetary policy is well placed to respond decisively to adverse international developments if needed.' Financial markets are still expecting the RBA to cut rates on August 12, followed by more relief in November and December that would take it back to 3.1 percent for the first time since February 2023. Australia's economy has signs of weakness with unemployment in June rising to 4.3 percent, the highest level since November 2021 when Sydney and Melbourne were emerging from Covid lockdowns. 'The unemployment rate has risen a bit - it's because there's been more people looking for work than there were jobs created,' she said. Australia's jobless rate is lower than Canada's 6.9 percent and New Zealand's 5.1 percent. Ms Bullock argued the RBA cash rate in late 2023 of 4.35 percent, following 13 increases, was still much lower than the equivalent US Federal Reserve rate of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent during the post-Covid era of soaring global inflation. Canada's equivalent policy rate rose to five percent while New Zealand's hit 5.5 percent. 'The board could have chosen to match the more significant rate increases of some other central banks to bring inflation back to target more quickly,' she said. 'But this could have risked a sharper and more persistent increase in the unemployment rate. 'Instead, the board judged that a measured approach was consistent with its dual mandate. 'We increased the cash rate quickly at first – but we didn't go as high as some other central banks.' From November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be publishing a comprehensive monthly inflation data series. This would replace the quarterly consumer price index data and the less comprehensive monthly indicators introduced in 2022, bringing Australia into line with the likes of the US which has comprehensive monthly inflation data. Australian Statistician Dr David Gruen said this would enable the Reserve Bank to make better monetary policy decisions. 'The transition to a complete, internationally comparable monthly CPI as Australia's primary measure of headline inflation will provide better information for monetary and fiscal policy decisions that have a direct impact on all Australians,' he said.
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trade minister to warn Trump's tariff wars could see Australia ‘suffer' for generations
Australia 'will suffer' for generations if Donald Trump's global trade wars persist, Don Farrell warns, as the Albanese government stares down an increasingly challenging economic environment in its second term. In his address to the Lowy Institute on Friday, Australia's trade minister will also say the US is 'seeking to expand domestic manufacturing and influence the policies of its trading partners' as it questions the benefits of open, rules-based trade. On Thursday, the Trump administration claimed a win after restrictions on imports into Australia of meat processed in the US but grown in Mexico and Canada were lifted. 'This is yet another example of the kind of market access the president negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,' the US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said. Trade makes up nearly a third of Australia's economic output, and one in four jobs relating to trade – Farrell will note that trade and investment support the Albanese government's three top priorities: productivity, economic resilience, and budget sustainability. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'But these institutions and norms we worked so hard to build are being questioned and the rules we wrote are being challenged,' he will say on Friday. 'One of the chief designers of the global trading system, the United States, is now questioning the benefits of open, rules-based trade. 'The Trump administration is seeking to expand domestic manufacturing and influence the policies of its trading partners.' Farrell will point to Australia's ability to send produce, resources and human capital around the globe as the reason behind the country's high standard of living. But he will flag that the shift in foreign and trade policy under Trump could undermine Australia's prosperity with long-lasting impacts. 'What we risk seeing is a shift from a system based on shared prosperity and interdependence to one based solely on power and size,' the minister will say. 'If our trading partners' growth slows, without doubt we will suffer. 'The costs to consumers and businesses of a global economic slowdown will be felt for generations, and the shock waves of inflation will worsen.' Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion This notably stronger critique of Australia's close partner reflects the government's growing unease with pressure applied by the Trump administration. Australia faces a 10% baseline tariff on all products exported to the US with a 50% tariff on steel and aluminium. There is concern a potential 200% tariff could be planned for pharmaceuticals. On the US president's so-called 'Liberation Day', Trump specifically cited Australia's restrictions on beef imports upon announcing the tariff regime. Farrell has previously said the US tariffs on Australian goods were not the 'act of a friend'. The multibillion-dollar Aukus pact is also under pressure after a snap administration review was announced amid US demands for Australia to increase its defence spending.
