Salary calibration

For Canadians living / traveling in the UK

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dannykoolSuper Member
Posts: 148
Joined: 16 Oct 2007
Location: Europe

salary

Post Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:36 am

well it is a bit weird but for some reason non professional salaries are so high ? Nothing wrong in that but then why are the new professionals in Canada not getting into their fields etc ?

Can you elaborate on the 'skills and experience' that pay these amounts in Alberta, other than the one you mentioned ?
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StevenCanuckAbroad VIP
Posts: 3637
Topics: 2
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Location: Calgary

Post Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:56 am

I think the problem with "new professionals" is either that their qualifications aren't recognised (especially true in healthcare), their experience isn't recognised or they just face bigotry.

Going by the people I deal with, "skill" means you show up to work, "experience" means you're breathing.

Kind of difficult to generalise about what jobs are going and for how much, but what I would say is that the leading PSA on the radio is: "Alberta's child labour laws - what you need to know. Remember it is unlawful to employ children under the age of 14 to operate heavy machinery without parental permission in the Province of Alberta - and it always has been."

If that's the ad they run the most, that gives you an idea about what the labour market is like in Alberta!

There was a bit on the news the other day about how people who have massive professional skills and recently immigrated end up in telemarketing or whatever, but it's not as if they're not earning money at it. You can literally earn $40,000 a year in Alberta on the nightshift stacking shelves in a store in Calgary, so $75,000 isn't that big of a deal. My local Burger King shut down because they couldn't find staff and on the sign they were offering something like $15/hour.

The City of Calgary is absolutely desperate for people and a lot of the positions they want to fill are professional jobs. And that's just being a civil servant. Have a look on their job site, I'm sure you'll find something!
Steve.
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dannykoolSuper Member
Posts: 148
Joined: 16 Oct 2007
Location: Europe

salary

Post Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:16 pm

Thanks for the input.I get the feeling that it is mostly trade jobs that are in demand.

Also the so called visible minorities have it rough.so the numbers of 75000 etc sound too good but i will check.
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happyfunballNew Member
Posts: 1
Joined: 7 Jul 2008
Location: Ottawa

Post Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:27 am

By all measures I can find, the standard of living in the UK is lower than Canada, so you can expect, in general, to effectively take a pay cut when you move to the UK.

Some sectors are much worse than others but don't expect to have as much disposable income on your hands doing the same job in the UK as you do in Canada. Canada is a very rich country and its not easy to move somewhere else and do better, or even the same financially.

Of course there are exceptions but this is what I'm telling myself as I plan to move there in October for a few months. I'm not doing it to make money!
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StevenCanuckAbroad VIP
Posts: 3637
Topics: 2
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Location: Calgary

Post Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:51 am

It's not that Canada is a richer country, it's just not as crowded. Per capita you can probably make more money in some jobs in the UK, it just doesn't go as far as the cost of living is higher.

If you look at jobs in the financial sector in the UK, even lowly ones like IT support, the salaries are sky-high compared to working on Bay St. in Toronto, but the flip side is that try finding somewhere to live in the centre of London and look at the overall cost of living there.

The only thing off-hand that I can remember being noticeably cheaper in the UK were certain types of fresh foods, presumably because of the transportation distance.
Steve.
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