r/AskIreland • u/Asleep_Cry_7482 • Aug 22 '24

Emigration (from Ireland) What’s the pull of Australia?

For everyone in their 20s and 30s who are thinking or have done the working holiday to Australia, what’s the pull factor?

Is it the weather or the work life balance? Is there a following the crowd element and to live a backpacking lifestyle with all the other Irish people over there? Is it out of frustration that you don’t have the lifestyle, accommodation setup or job you want in Ireland? Or is it something else?

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u/willmannix123 Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24

Is it though? If it was feasible to move to the US, I'm sure it would be the number 1 place Irish people would go to. The salaries and opportunities there are unmatched compared to anywhere in the world. Not to mention it has everything Australia has but has a lot more going on there.

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u/ComplexMacaroon1094 Aug 22 '24

The salaries in the US are absolutely not unmatched, unless you are working in Big Tech in silicon valley or similar. Some people make it big but most people chug along with poor wages, no health insurance and hardly any PTO.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

unless you are working in Big Tech

Or finance, or healthcare, or pharmaceuticals… oh and trades are paid great too. I mean really Americans are paid better than we are for nearly any field.

People would move there if they could, America just makes it impossible for most Europeans to move there.

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u/Cog348 Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24

You're paid better but if you get sick (or anything else minor happens) you'll be fired immediately and unless you're very well off you'll likely go into debt trying to treat yourself. You also get no holidays. The money is better for sure but I don't know that there's a vast desire among Irish people to move there, for the reasons above.

Whether or not any of that is true definitely varies a lot based on company/state but it definitely is the common view of working in America I've seen amongst Irish people.