Originally Posted by
fungus pudding
Well I can tell you a little of things in 'my day'. Had the opportunity to gain university entrance, which was then a requirement to go to varsity - but I simply couldn't afford it. So in 1965 began an apprenticeship with a govt. department. It was a five year term with no recognition of extra hours worked, so overtime didn't count. So this is the worst bit - as an apprentice I was paid 17 shillings and 6d per week. ($1.75) A pittance. Once my apprenticeship was completed I went straight onto the tradesmans' rate of $ 22 per week. (Decimal currency kicked in in 1967.) Sounds low but it good for its time. But as an apprentice we got less than 10% of a full wage. Admittedly that was the govt. and private employers paid much better and credited overtime off apprenticeship. The govt. had their own rules. The good that came out of it was it made me ambitious to do better. Just one little illustration of 'the good old days' and how 'easy' we had it.
By the time I had worked myself into a good financial position I had the 'privilege' of paying 66% tax. Wasn't I lucky!