a higher credential does mean higher earnings,
Foxy,
So it should ! But I'm not talking about credentials, I'm talking about meaningless qualifications that do nothing more than climb the ranks in the Public Service Corporate sector by exploiting the Peter Principle !

Individual,

What "meaningless credentials" are you referring to?
I'm not familiar with those. I know how hard it is
to study and get qualified in any field.. It often
takes years of hard work, while people are working,
studying, supporting families, to get qualified. It's
not easy. And anyone who then brushes these qualifications
aside obviously has not gone through the process themselves.

If you want your achievements to be respected you have
to respect those of others. Yes, there are people who get
appointments (for whatever reason) that they don't always
deserve. That happens in all fields. But usually - promotions
are given for a good reason in most cases.
To making sweeping
statements about qualifications and promotions -
may simply reflect a case of "sour grapes".

And the more ill-feeling expressed - the less likely people
have of being promoted. Nobody wants to work with a "misery
guts.

Nobody wants to work with a "misery guts.
Foxy,
that's where your & my experiences differ. I have witnessed many times when newly posted PS rolled up in places they simply didn't want to be in yet they stayed for the required two years.
Why ? Because "the money's good" was the standard reply.
We even had a visit from a Govt bureaucrat showing us how to "get up the ladder".
The woman actually asked us what the first thing we looked at was in a job advertisement. When no-one in the room said anything she blurted out "how much it pays of course".
When I raised my hand & answered that we'd first look WHERE the job is & everyone nodded in agreement, she simply stared in disbelief !

Wish I could remember all the words or even the name Foxy, lets call it the farmers lament
Bet you find it is ten seconds
Indy brings it back to me often it has these words we will all be ruined in it
Country folk, some not all, as they age become overly convinced they are always right
And the world is wrong
Shorten, today, said wages and how they are spent, is 60 percent of our economy
In a little country hamlet, 60 years ago, the local shopkeeper, who welcomed customers with these words
*What can I take you for?*
Hired me a young kid, to put a concrete floor over what had been dirt, he said the railway workers wages had gone up, and they would be paying for the concrete and my 5 shillings for ten hours hard work

Belly,
When you go to Indonesia Aus$ 100 will make you an instant Millionaire ! Is that why you're in favour of wages going up continuously to reach the same goal ?

indy are you in favor of price/profit rises
Do you the reducing our lifestyle to like that of the mentioned country is a good idea
Are you content to see low income earners live a lower standard of living forever