Young Aussie mum hits back at her critics after sparking backlash for sharing the exact salary she ‘wouldn’t do anything for’
A young mother who would ‘do nothing’ for $60,000 a year has hit back at critics after sparking intense debate over ‘survival wages’ in Australia.
Alice Raspin, 28, who earns $67,000 as a digital specialist for an insurance company, was stunned after learning that jobs in her field were being advertised for $60,000 a year.
“Sorry, but I don’t do anything for $60,000 a year,” the mother of one said in a video shared on TikTok last week.
‘As a 28-year-old living in a capital with one child, I have rent and are saving for a house. How do people expect to compensate someone for 75 hours every two weeks for €60,000? Which bills do I pay with it? You dream.
“I don’t care how much you make, if it’s less than $60,000 a year, get a new job.”
Ms Raspin admitted in comments that she has no tertiary qualifications but has worked full-time for the past ten years.
Her video received mixed reactions from Australians.
“I recently applied for a job as a disability services worker and the going rate was $26 an hour. In today’s economy that should be illegal,” one person wrote.
Alice Raspin (pictured), who earns $67,000 as a digital specialist for an insurance company, was stunned after apprenticeships in her field were advertised for $60,000 a year
But the older generation was less sympathetic, saying: ‘Kids have no idea these days’ and that if Aussies need work, they should take what they can get.
Recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis said people like Ms Raspin had to learn how to make scars and work hard for a long period before they could enjoy the big pay rises.
“If you want to change your career to make more money, you have to take one or two steps back to move forward,” she told Yahoo Finance.
“And this is what people don’t want to do. They don’t want to go back to TAFE or do an internship or whatever it is and start all over again.’
But Ms Raspin hit back, saying she understood she had to climb the ladder, but it wasn’t as easy as people thought.
She told Daily Mail Australia that while a $60,000 salary might work for younger people with fewer commitments, she, like many others, cannot afford to be paid less.
“I think $65,000 is appropriate if you live with friends or at home and have no children while you save to buy a house or travel,” she said.
“But if you’re 28, have a child and live away from home, nothing less than $70,000 will do.”
Recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis (pictured) says younger workers should be patient with pay increases as many complain $60,000 a year isn’t enough
It comes after a boomer tradie shared a blunt message to young Aussies turning down jobs because they didn’t pay six figures.
The 61-year-old revealed he spent four and a half decades in the gritty plumbing industry, earning $180,000 a year before retiring.
He said he only reached the six-figure mark after years of hard work and urged young Aussies to roll up their sleeves if they wanted a comparable salary.
“Put the hard work in the beginning and reap the rewards at the end,” he told job app GetAhead.
“A lot of young people today don’t do hard work, and to get ahead, man, you gotta get through hard work.”