Bakers, butchers and mechanics earn more in the bush than city, says new report

Former Griffith Bakers Delight owner Sheradine Turkington said she needed to pay workers more in Griffith compared to Melbourne. Photo: Facebook.

Bakers, butchers, mechanics, counsellors and electricians are among 80 professions that earn more on average in rural areas compared to the city, according to new analysis by think tank Regional Australia Institute (RAI).

The RAI report found that while wages are generally higher in capital cities, where businesses, workers and people are located together in greater numbers, there are certain specialised industries where this is clearly not the case.

Bakers and pastrycooks, for example, earn on average 9 per cent more than their city counterparts in outer regional areas and 17 per cent more in remote areas.

Sheradine Turkington, the longtime owner of Bakers Delight in Griffith, who started her career in Melbourne, explained this phenomenon.

“It’s harder to employ people in Griffith [compared to Melbourne], so therefore, you have to normally pay employees more than in the city, where wages were a lot less,” she said.

“To attract the person who was managing my production I had to pay them a premium to get them to Griffith.”

Ms Turkington, who sold her franchise and left the industry last year, said baking was a good career for a young person thinking of going bush.

“It was great for me. You can travel anywhere and have a job as a baker. The hard part about becoming a baker is the unsociable hours. But the upside is that you’re working at night and you can have your daytimes free, which is a negative and positive,” she said.

RAI CEO Liz Ritchie said her institute’s new analysis shone a light on opportunities, not just for the regions, but the entire national workforce.

“This report busts the long-held myth that you have to live in a major city to earn a high income. The truth is, there are high regional incomes available in many occupations for those who look beyond metropolitan boundaries – which means more money in the pockets of hardworking Australians,” Ms Ritchie said.

“There are labour shortages across the regions. More than 67,000 job vacancies in regional Australia were advertised online in January – a level 62.7 per cent higher than the five-year pre-COVID average.

“We need more people to know about the career opportunities in regional Australia. There are plenty of good jobs, where you can earn a very good income. Combine that with the regions’ liveability factors, like less traffic, more affordable housing and access to nature and you can understand why so many people have already made the move.”

Other key professions in which workers in the bush earned more on average than their city counterparts included manufacturers, child carers, sports coaches, special education teachers, GPs and aged and disability carers.