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The Forum > Article Comments > Mind the gap? > Comments

Mind the gap? : Comments

By Andrew Leigh, published 9/3/2010

Should we care about the earnings gap between city professionals and the men and women who clean their offices?

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"Teachers are poorly paid"?
A high school teacher with 10 years experience is typically on about $75k. That might be low compared to fund managers, but it's about double the median wage.
If teachers, making double that of 50% of Australians are poorly paid, what about the rest of us?
Posted by Grim, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:04:16 PM
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The median wage is $57,000 last time I checked on ABS. So a teacher with ten years experience isn't esrning much relative to their skills.
Posted by Lucy Montgomery, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 11:04:23 PM
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Looks like a very well researched and written article. However having a keen interest in this area I read a book 2 years ago about this exact topic. Written by Prof Richard Wilkinson and titled "The impact of inequality; how to make sick societies healthier" it was a fantastic read. I see the author has referenced a few of this authors research in his work. I have a clear recollection that much of the book was in direct contrast to this article. Research was presented which I believe implied quite clearly inequality as well as increasingly diverse populations reduced life expectancy. We as humans function best when we live in a society with people who we feel are like us, with similar beliefs, and where we see a sense of fairness, justice and equality of treatment. For anyone interested in improving the lives and health of people and how societies function it is a really great read.
Posted by ozzie, Tuesday, 9 March 2010 11:12:05 PM
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Lucy said,
"The median wage is $57,000 last time I checked on ABS. So a teacher with ten years experience isn't esrning much relative to their skills."

Whereas a UNSW Law (the Law school with the easiest entry marks in the country in the 90s) graduate with twenty years experience on 170K is probably esrning 10 times what they are worth.
Posted by ozzie, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 12:05:09 AM
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With respect Lucy, the 'average' wage -taken from averaging the highest to the lowest wage- is $57k. The median wage -that which 50% of the population makes less than- is closer to $37k.
As there are only a handful of people making really high wages, while millions make very low wages, the disparity between the average and the median is a direct reflection of the widening gap.
Need I point out that those we pay to represent us are amongst the very highest paid?
I'm convinced forcing amalgamations of councils in Qld was at least in part about justifying ridiculous pay packets for councillors and mayors. How long before politicians of all stripes start making comparisons?
The only advantage of institutions getting bigger and bigger is that it funnels wealth into fewer and fewer hands, at the very top.
The crime of the millennium left millions of people homeless and unemployed, largely because of companies 'too big to be allowed to fail'. The answer to this dilemma? Allow the biggest financial institutions and car companies to merge and amalgamate and get bigger still.
I maintain the defining characteristic of true Humanity is our empathy; our ability to imagine ourselves in someone else's place.
History has demonstrated clearly that the bigger the gap between rich and poor, or more importantly between the powerful and 'the masses', this empathy is inevitably replaced by a profound contempt, on both sides; leading to war and revolution.
Posted by Grim, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 6:18:22 AM
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I have only read the first post.

It is simply called 'education'. Get a better education/qualification and you don't have to be a cleaner.
Posted by rehctub, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 6:43:05 AM
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