This is the most depressing thing I've seen all day.

[meegannie]

According to this site, I need to find a job that pays ?40,000-?45,000 per year to have a comparable standard of living to the one I had in the US.



That will be IMPOSSIBLE. I'm not qualified for ANYTHING, and all the jobs I've looked at pay like ?18,000.

 

[Laura M]

?18, 000 is a pretty good wage here, its about average I reckon.

My friend Meggie just got his masters and his starting off wage is 20,000? a year which is pretty nifty for a new graduate, you could be lucky and land yourself a job like that.

I want to do teaching I think the pay is less than 18,000 a year, a LOT less. I'll never afford a house though even for a small semi detached house in an area that isnt popular is 250,000 My Mum said I can build a 2 story house in the back garden with my own front door, and she was serious too... she has drawn up the plans...

 

[Salome]

that's a LOT of money

not even I earn that much


*cough*

 

[Salome]

and the most depressing thing I've seen today was when I looked in the mirror this morning

since it was only 7am that makes it double depressing

 

[Bonochick]

I can't find ANY other job, let alone worrying about how much it pays.

All I have is my current part-time job. I'm lucky if I get scheduled more than 9 hours a week.

Dad is gonna have to take care of me forever.

 

[meegannie]

Okay, I think I figured it out. The site only works in dollars, I think. So $40,000 = ?22,000.

Though I probably won't even get that much.

 

[Salome]

that makes more sense

 

[Angela Harlem]

you'll have a combined wage wont you meg?
dont look at this in pounds, its too depressing. i looked at jobs in the uk once and felt really insignificant when i saw the incomes on a lot of them, then i exchanged it and it was a little better.

 

[bammo2]

I graduated in 2000 and I still only earn ?14000 a year

My sister is working whilst doing her masters. She is 30 and she earns ?9000 a year (she works for the university of nottingham in the engineering library. She's doing her masters in library and information services)

so ?18000 sounds like a fortune to me!!

 

[Mullen-Girl]

That's more than what I make And i'm an office manager...they're cheating me out of money

 

[jkayet]

The jobs I'm looking at now set me far back from what we made in our old job, Megan...scary, eh?

 

[meegannie]

Well, I could maybe live on about what I started at in DC, but anything below that and I don't know how I can afford a flat, bils, etc. The problem with currency conversion is that the buying power of the dollar and pound is about the same, so ?20 buys the same amount as $20.

 

[oliveu2cm]

Well, I could maybe live on about what I started at in DC, but anything below that and I don't know how I can afford a flat, bils, etc. The problem with currency conversion is that the buying power of the dollar and pound is about the same, so ?20 buys the same amount as $20.

I thought the current exchange rate is nearly 2:1 (?2:$1)? Unless buying power is something else

 

[meegannie]

Yeah, the exchange rate is something like $1.85 = ?1. By buying power (I'm not entirely sure I'm using that term correctly, though ), I just mean that something that's $1 in the US (like a 20 oz. bottle of Coke) would be ?1 here (well, in London....it's a little better here). So if you have ?5, even though that's $9 or whatever in US dollars, you can buy the same meal at McDonalds for that ?5 that you'd pay $5 for in the US. If that makes any sense.

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

i'd be lucky to make over $20,000 anytime soon.

 

[oliveu2cm]

ahh.. gotchya! that makes sense.

money worries =

 

[jkayet]

Well, I could maybe live on about what I started at in DC, but anything below that and I don't know how I can afford a flat, bils, etc. The problem with currency conversion is that the buying power of the dollar and pound is about the same, so ?20 buys the same amount as $20.

I remember when i was first in london, i saw about the same numbers as the cost of...say a cup of coffee, and despite knowing the conversion was WAY different, I somehow tricked my brain into thinking it wasn't bad for a bit...but yeah, the buying power thing is

 

[anitram]

England is very expensive, especially London. Everything there is wildly overpriced. I've been there twice, once in 1991, and then again in 2001, and buying power is low for those of us in North America.