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I'd do it. Live cheap and make my own darn bread too. I'd hope to last for 10 years and be able to retire for good!
Trust me, after working 12 hours a day and likely 6 or even 7 days a week, $12 for a loaf of bread ain't bad considering you'd be too tired to make it yourself.
Anyone who can pull these kind of hours should be rewarded though. Our grandparents generation were firm believers in the value of hard work. A good day's pay for a good day's work. This is still true today. The real challenge is finding people willing to subject themselves to these kinds of hours doing physically demanding work. Yes you will be tired, yes you may get hurt and yes your career may end at 40, but that goes with the territory.
And there are still opportunities like this in America. Again, finding people willing to pull these hours doing this kinda work is the hard part.
I have no problems with this as I'm a firm believer that you are "worth" whatever someone is stupid enough to pay you. The idea is to constantly look for stupid people with money.
The "stupid" people paying the mining wages just happen to be among the worlds most profitable corporations. Costs are very high in the mining towns, very hard for non mine workers to live their.
The "stupid" people paying the mining wages just happen to be among the worlds most profitable corporations. Costs are very high in the mining towns, very hard for non mine workers to live their.
Which is why McDonalds flies workers from around Australia to work at those local McDonalds. They also pay considerably better than most other McDonalds. Same phenomenon can be found in other boom towns, including those in parts of North Dakota.
MANDURAH, Australia — One of the fastest-growing costs in the global mining industry are workers like James Dinnison: the 25-year-old high-school dropout from Western Australia makes $200,000 a year running drills in underground mines to extract gold and other minerals.
The heavily tattooed Mr. Dinnison, who started in the mines seven years ago earning $100,000, owns a sky-blue 2009 Chevy Ute, which cost $55,000 before a $16,000 engine enhancement, and a $44,000 custom motorcycle. The price tag on his chihuahua, Dexter, which yaps at his feet: $1,200.
A precious commodity himself, Mr. Dinnison belongs to a class of nouveau riche rising in remote and mineral-rich parts of the world, such as Western Australia state, where mining companies are investing heavily to develop and expand iron-ore mines. Demand for those willing to work 12-hour days in sometimes dangerous conditions, while living for weeks in dusty small towns, is huge.
"It's a historical shortage," says Sigurd Mareels, director of global mining for research firm McKinsey & Co. Not just in Australia, but around the world. In Canada, example, the Mining Industry Council foresees a shortfall of 60,000 to 90,000 workers by 2017. Peru must find 40,000 new miners by the end of the decade.
Behind this need for mine workers is a construction boom in China and other emerging economies that has ramped up the demand for iron ore, used to make steel, and other metals used in construction, such as copper, typically used for wiring buildings.
The manpower dearth comes with a hefty price tag. "Inflationary pressures are driving up costs and wages at mining hot spots like Western Australia, Chile, Africa," said Tom Albanese, CEO of Rio Tinto PLC the world's third-biggest miner by sales. "You're seeing double-digit wage growth in a lot of regions."
The shortage is particularly acute in Australia, the world's biggest source of iron ore and the world's second-biggest gold producer.
This is wonderful I work in the oil industry(well services) and understand the dangers of these types of jobs. What I don't understand is the seemingly negative attitude by some on this thread Is that jealousy or just being spiteful?
The "stupid" people paying the mining wages just happen to be among the worlds most profitable corporations. Costs are very high in the mining towns, very hard for non mine workers to live their.
And the fact that they are "profitable" somehow makes them intelligent? Sorry, it doesn't work that way.
If the companies in question had trained a larger pool of workers, they wouldn't find their profits eroded by having to pay a limited pool of skilled employees so much. Or...had they lobbied Australia's government to allow
more, lower cost, foreign workers into the country, they would have a larger pool of workers to draw from and wouldn't have to pay so much for labor.
I work in the skilled trades here in the US. The only skilled trades people that aren't employed or that aren't doing well either have decided to live in the few areas where there aren't many jobs or they aren't particularly skilled and can't pass skills tests that they are given prior to employment. Or both.
The ones that live where skilled workers are needed and that are talented can basically write their own checks. Not $200k a year (for most) but certainly far better than all but a relatively few other professions. They can find stupid people and demand a set amount. Whether the stupid people will pay them is a choice that those people will make.
This is wonderful I work in the oil industry(well services) and understand the dangers of these types of jobs. What I don't understand is the seemingly negative attitude by some on this thread Is that jealousy or just being spiteful?
Its funny how people want to bring others down for being motivated.
As a teacher in an Australian country mining town, I can see a great influence that the mining industry has on the local community, both the positive and negative.
The mines have allowed this community to grow and evolve into an even more productive and prospective town (it is also a wine region). But it has also brought topless barmaids, longer opening hours for the pubs and more reflective jackets to town, amongst other things.
Yes, the rent has increased, as has the cost of purchasing a house, but this isn’t just a direct result of the mines opening – hello GFC. Prices for everything are increasing, to a degree, everywhere. If you travel an hour and a half away, you actually pay more for housing but less for petrol.
If you are able to manage your money properly, maintain a reasonably balanced life (work/leisure etc.) and be happy, then why not?
By the way, where are these people buying bread for $12? I don’t think I have ever paid more than $4 (which is roughly $3.94 USD) – fresh from a bakery!
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Is that jealousy or just being spiteful?
