The Top Stories This Week From A Young Australian’s Perspective.
1. Cut in real wages.
What does this mean for young Australians?
Last Wednesday, the Fair Work Commission announced that the minimum wage will be increased by 5.2%. However, given that the inflation rate is expected to rise to 7% by the end of this year, your ‘real’ wages will be lower than last year.
Real wages are wages that are adjusted for inflation. In other words, real wages are expressed in terms of purchasing power, not the actual dollar amount.
For example, imagine if you have an offer from two companies in two different cities. The first job is located in city ‘A’, and the second job is located in city ‘B’. The first job is offering you an annual wage of $60,000. The second job is offering you an annual wage of $100,000. However, everything costs twice as much in city ‘B’ than city ‘A’.
So whilst your nominal wage is greater in city ‘B’, your real wage is greater in city ‘B’.
So a ‘cut in real wages’ means that while you’re going to receive a bigger paycheck, you’ll be able to purchase less goods even with the extra money.
2. Expect long delays and higher prices for air travel.
What does this mean for young Australians?
It’s the start of the school holidays for most students around Australia. With the increased demand for air travel, major airports around Australia are struggling to keep up with demand.
So if you’re travelling during these school holidays, make sure you get there nice and early just in case. Airports are recommending that you arrive at the airport about two hours before your domestic flight and three hours before your international flight.
Additionally, if you’re booking tickets in the next few months, expect the price of airfares to go up. Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, says travellers should expect higher ticket prices due to the higher prices in jet fuel.
Additionally, Qantas will also remove 5% of its previously scheduled services in July and August in order to cope with the high fuel prices. Less services means fewer, but more crowded, flights.
Note **US Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade.**
What does this mean for young Australians?
While this won’t really affect Australians, this will affect the abortion rights for a lot of Americans. The reasoning for overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade case (and 50 years of legal precedent) was because the US constitution does not specifically mention abortion rights.
However, this will not affect Australians seeking abortion in Australia. Abortion is legal in all states and territories.
However, the same can’t be said for people living in the United States of America. The US Supreme court has decided that the right to abortion is up to each state to decide.
For more information on abortion in Australia, visit here.
