{"id":10610,"date":"2025-07-21T10:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10610\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T10:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:15:12","slug":"british-backpacker-stunned-by-earnings-stacking-shelves-at-iga-in-kimberly-region-compared-to-uk-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10610\/","title":{"rendered":"British backpacker stunned by earnings stacking shelves at IGA in Kimberly region compared to UK wages"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British backpacker has been left stunned by her earnings as a casual supermarket worker in remote WA compared to her earnings in the UK.<\/p>\n

29-year-old Lauren from Liverpool quit her job as a support worker earlier this year and flew to the other side of the world to explore Australia. She secured a job stacking shelves at IGA in Derby in May, according to Daily Mail.<\/a><\/p>\n

The young Brit posted a video on TikTok that quickly went viral \u2014 breaking down her pay packet from the popular Aussie supermarket, explaining that she earns much more than when she was working gruelling 60-hour weeks in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wages in Australia compared to my wages at home need to be spoken about,\u201d she said in the video.<\/p>\n

She explained that she earned \u00a312.50 (around $23) an hour as a support worker in England, working 60 hours a week including bank holidays and public holidays, and brought home about \u00a32,500 per month (around $4700).<\/p>\n

In Australia, the minimum rate of pay for stacking shelves at IGA on weekdays is $34 an hour and those rates are even higher on evenings and weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 6pm, Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays, my rate of pay is $38 an hour, which is the equivalent to about \u00a319.<\/p>\n

\"TheCamera IconThe British backpacker has explored various places in Australia, including Melbourne, Cairns and Broome. Credit: @laurensadventures\/TikTok<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd on public holidays, my rate of pay is $64 an hour, which is equivalent to about \u00a330 an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just cannot believe the difference in wages. It\u2019s just insane\u201d she said in the video.<\/p>\n

She explained that she will be earning more in a supermarket doing 40 hours a week than she did as a support worker working 60 hour weeks.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old is aware that there is a higher cost of living in Australia but she still feels like she is better off overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know accommodation can be expensive here, and that\u2019s part of why the pay is higher,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She elaborated that most of the time if you come to Australia as a single person and share with housemates the costs can be reduced, especially in more remote areas like WA\u2019s Kimberly region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve decided to experience outback life, so I\u2019ve come to Derby. My accommodation is $165 a week \u2014 around \u00a380,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The video has racked up close to 700,0000 views and was flooded with hundreds of comments from fellow Brits, some of whom agreed with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is why everyone is leaving the UK and not only that it\u2019s going to s..t, I\u2019m emigrating in December to Perth and I can\u2019t wait for the better work\/life balance,\u201d one person said.<\/p>\n

\"TheCamera IconThe young Brit has emphasised the other elements of WA she enjoys including sunsets, frozen yogurt and Aboriginal art. Credit: @laurensadventures\/TikTok<\/p>\n

\u201cFellow scouser here, how beautiful is Western Australia though \ud83d\ude0d enjoy and get that bank \ud83d\udcb0,\u201d a second commented.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss that place, I did the same 20 years ago and I urge you not to come back,\u201d another Brit added.<\/p>\n

Others were quick to disagree with her stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive your head a wobble. The cost of living is double over there that\u2019s why you need more money,\u201d one person said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just compare wages. Brits can travel all over Europe and for a couple hours and for so cheap get a European holiday, would cost Aussie families 30k not to mention the price of housing in Australia,\u201d another replied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British backpacker has been left stunned by her earnings as a casual supermarket worker in remote WA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[134,43,995,44,41,39,42,40,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-10610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-influencers","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}