[Baltimoron]

I just saw an ad at the top of the page that said the minimum wage for anyone over 22 is 8.50 pounds per hour. WTF! Is this true? That is roughly 16 American dollars per hour. How the hell do you guys get such a high minimum wage. Businesses here would never pay that kind of money. This just adds to the already long list of why I'm moving to the UK someday.

[Illusionary]

Originally Posted by Baltimoron

I just saw an ad at the top of the page that said the minimum wage for anyone over 22 is 8.50 pounds per hour. WTF! Is this true? That is roughly 16 American dollars per hour. How the hell do you guys get such a high minimum wage. Businesses here would never pay that kind of money. This just adds to the already long list of why I'm moving to the UK someday.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/#b

There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1 October 2009 are:

* £5.80 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
* a development rate of £4.83 per hour for workers aged 18-21 inclusive
* £3.57 per hour for all workers under the age of 18, who are no longer of compulsory school age

Transposition error, perhaps?

[SB_Vision]

really you want to move here? well..... I mean I wouldn't pack my bags and move to the US but I wouldn't be in a rush to not take a trip somewhere else

[Baltimoron]

Oh. Maybe I read it wrong. I was about to say... like what the hell, I'm going to the UK immediately. Still, 10 pounds per hour is way above our minimum wage.

[a.posteriori]

A high minimum wage isn't terribly important, unless you work for minimum wage.

Salaries in the US are typically higher, I believe.

[Bismarck]

Also keep in mind that the cost of living in the UK is substantially higher than in the US. Many products actually cost 1.5-2 times more.

[Baltimoron]

Originally Posted by a.posteriori

A high minimum wage isn't terribly important, unless you work for minimum wage.

Salaries in the US are typically higher, I believe.

Its important if you work for minimum wage. Not that I plan on working for minimum wage for the rest of my life, but millions of people do. Just sayin.

[cactussed]

Originally Posted by Baltimoron

Its important if you work for minimum wage. Not that I plan on working for minimum wage for the rest of my life, but millions of people do. Just sayin.

Well the fact your desire to move here is affected by the level of the minimum wage does imply that you aspire to work for the minimum wage.

[Steeps]

1 British pound = 1.6423 U.S. dollars according to google. So the £5.80 rate works out at $9.52/hr... Sounds a lot?


Tax: none on anything below 6k, but when you're working full time expect 1/3rd of it to disappear on tax and NI. Then you have your road tax, council tax, tv tax...
Petrol here is on average £1.05 a litre, so roughly £3.80 a US gallon or $6.24 for a direct conversion.
Food prices I found were pretty similar, still slightly cheaper in the states although fast food and eating out was considerably cheaper.

Only things I found cheaper in the UK compared to the US were alcohol and we had a lot more selection of processed desserts like cake cheaper.

When you live and work in a country you no longer think of an exchange rate, as you're earning in £ and spending in £ it's direct, not like you're earning in £ and then spending in $.