Standard of living

Australia’s workforce

Australia is categorised as a high-middle income country by the OECD. Our unemployment rate has been fairly steady at around 6% over the past few years.

Approximately 38% of Australians work in professional or technical jobs, as a manager or administrator. Around 42% of the workforce has a university degree, diploma or trade qualification. Australia's higher education enrolment rate, at around 80%, is one of the highest in the world---third behind only Canada and the United States.

Cost of living

In a survey carried out by Mercer Human Resource Consulting in 2002, in which international comparisons were made regarding the cost of living versus the quality of living, Australia received the highest rating.

‘Worldwide, New Zealand and Australian cities are still the cheapest, yet with the highest quality of living... The cost of living in Australia’s Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth is ...[among the lowest of the 144 cities reviewed]. (Sydney is the only Australian city amongst the world’s 100 most expensive cities---position 95, score 62.2). With index scores of well under 50 in these cities, living costs here are under half those of the world’s costliest cities, while ranking amongst the top 30 for quality of life.’ [Note]

You may like to visit the following links for further information:

GoMatilda has a 'cost of living' calculator to provide a rough comparison between the cost of living in your country and Australia. Please read the information under ‘How does it work?’ to ensure that you understand how the figures are calculated and what is and is not taken into account in these calculations.

Real Estate Institute of Australia for information on property prices and rental costs in various Australian States and Territories.