French fruit picker who saved $15,000 in three months on WA farm wonders how Australians can be poor

A French backpacker who claimed to have saved $15,000 in just three months while working on a farm has left some Aussies wondering how the country can have poor people.

The man claimed he earned more working 50 hours a week for minimum wage, operating a cherry picker to harvest fruit and “cutting down some trees” on a Western Australian farm than working as a professional marketer with a postgraduate degree in Europe. .

“So that’s my question, how can you be poor in Australia?” he said in a video posted on TikTok.

The French national is one of 112,335 people with a working holiday visa in Australia on December 31, 2022.

Many of them choose to work in agriculture as this can extend their stay by up to 12 months and open the door to an even longer visa in the future.

After saving a considerable amount of money in a short period of time, he wondered ‘how is it possible’ that someone in Australia can be poor.

‘I get paid the minimum rate of what you can get paid here in Australia’

The minimum wage in Australia is $21.38 per hour with 25 percent tax to $26.73 per hour for casual work.

“I do maybe 50 hours a week… I try to make a lot of money,” he continued.

“And in three months I might have $15,000 in my savings.”

The backpacker then claims he makes more money doing a “s****y job on a farm with a cherry picker and I cut down some trees” than when he worked in France with a master’s degree.

In the comments section he explains what he does have to pay for.

“I pay rent, I pay electricity and gas, I have a car,” he wrote.

“The fact is that I don’t spend my money on beer, cigarettes.”

The French said he has a ‘s****y job’ picking fruit and cutting down trees for 50 hours a week for minimum wage, but he still makes money

The video sparked backlash online, with some Aussies praising the man for his work ethic, while others thought he was ‘out of touch’.

“Well done, hope you make a lot of money, we need hard working people here,” one user wrote.

“If an Aussie didn’t try my best, this was a good kick in the ass. Appreciate hearing this,” wrote a second.

“Well done bro, show Australia how it’s done,” a third wrote.

But others quickly pointed out the big difference between living and working on a farm and doing the same in a city.

“Come to Sydney, this (savings) will take a few weeks,” one user wrote.

“If you make $960 a week, rent $540, gas $80, food $200, electricity, etc. It’s not easy,” a second wrote.

“When you pay the rent/bills in full, you might realize why, mate. Good on you for working hard, but life on a farm is pretty cheap I’d say,” a third wrote.

Australia’s unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent in January, up slightly from a 48-year low of 3.5 percent in December.

The unemployment rate of 523,200 was almost half the July 2020 level of 1.015 million during the first months of the pandemic following the initial lockdowns.

Meet the young Aussie, 23, who left the city for a rural ‘nomad’ fruit-picking life – but she still earns $500 a DAY

A young Aussie woman has revealed she earns up to $480 a day picking fruit in regional Australia after swapping her city life for the countryside.

Kirasie Tate, from Sydney, moved to Orange to work with her father, who is a full-time professional fruit picker.

The 23-year-old is originally from Lismore, New South Wales, but moved to Sydney five years ago before deciding to go back to her roots.

“I’ve traveled to beautiful regional towns along the East Coast that I would never normally go to,” she told FEMAIL.

“While it’s certainly not a glamorous job – you work long hours and camp with shared facilities – there are benefits, too.”

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Kirasi Tate [pictured]from Sydney, recently moved to Orange to work with her father, who is a full-time professional fruit picker

A young Aussie woman just revealed she makes up to $480 a day picking fruit in regional Australia

Tate has also been to places like Gayndah in the country of Queensland and Huonville and Richmond in Tasmania for her work.

The 23-year-old told FEMAIL that the fruit-picking process is labor-intensive — workers must use clippers to carefully cut a fruit off the stem and then toss it into their bags which then fill crates.

Fruit pickers also need to take extra care not to bruise or damage the fruit during the process.

state [pictured] has also been to places like Gayndah in the country of Queensland and Huonville and Richmond in Tasmania for her work

Tate is particularly fond of the “beautiful” sunrises and sunsets she gets to see as part of her job, along with the added benefits of interacting with farm animals such as horses and cows.

But the part-time fruit picker revealed that certain parts of the job aren’t ideal, citing an instance where she woke up with a green tree frog on her cheek.

“The rain is particularly bad, because you can’t work and just have to take a day off.”

The mandarin season, which runs from April to June, was cut short by the heavy rainfall.

“All the fruit just falls to the ground,” she said.

Tate is particularly fond of the “beautiful” sunrises and sunsets she gets to see as part of her job, along with the added benefits of interacting with farm animals such as horses and cows.

Many have expressed a desire to experience Tate’s nature-oriented life.

“You’re living the dream – I wish I could do this and get out of town,” said one man.

“My mom had great experiences picking fruit in her twenties, I hope to do it one day,” said another.