In shocking news, it’s been revealed that people in higher-paid gigs drink a lot, while tradies and journos (ahem) are drinking more than ever.
New data reported by The Daily Telegraph reckons the construction industry boom and rising pay for tradespeople has the nation’s chippies and sparkies pouring that extra disposable income into frothies.
Most occupations across the country are generally drinking a bit less than they were in 2015, with the number of Aussies who’d had a drink in the past week dropping across most industries, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics research.
But three are on the rise.
- Tradies, cos they have more disposable income than ever. (A 5% rise there.)
- Farmers, possibly because there’s pretty much more beer than rain or river water out there, and droughts and river mismanagement are rough on rural mental health. (8% more have reported recent drinking than in 2015.)
- Arts and media. And look, this is a sector where the booze budget for a single branded arts event is probably higher than the annual earnings of a muso or actor performing at it.
And not that I’m biased, but every journo covering the garbage fire that is life in 2019 deserves to have a hamster-bottle of pinot attached to their desk to sip all day long. (Their rate’s up 8.4%.)
But interestingly, unless there’s a typo in the Tele’s data, protective service workers – firies, defence force, security people, prison workers and cops – have actually seen a rise bigger than any of those sectors, at 8.5%.
Do they have more money, more stress, or maybe a bit of both? (GOAT has contacted the author of the Tele story for clarification.)
Ultimately, the more you get paid, the more likely you are to drink: legislators, CEOs and general managers are still the jobs cracking open the most cold ones with the boys every year. (And let’s face it – a lot of those people are boys.)
And despite what some pollies might like to tell you about what those lazy dole bludgers are really spending your taxes on, less than half of people who are unemployed or not in paid work had a drink in the previous week, as opposed to 77.9% of legislators, CEOs and managers.
It’s almost like people on Centrelink are not wasting their government pittance on booze and cigs???? Because it hasn’t been raised in 25 years and they need what little they have to actually eat food and survive…???!????
Maths! It’s almost as much fun as drinking. (Responsibly.)