The 20 jobs that are highest paid per hour

HOW much money is an hour of your time worth? 

 
If you're an anaesthetist it's a lot - $124.10 to be exact.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the top 20 highest paid workers per hour, and along with the jobs you'd expect to be in the list (dentists, mining engineers, financial dealers) there are a few surprises.

University lecturers, crane operators and train drivers are among the workers who earn well above the Australian average of $34.70 an hour.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) construction division national secretary Dave Noonan said crane, hoist and lift operators do high-risk work.

"They work at height, under great pressure and have to exercise very precise skills that have very high requirements for occupational health and safety," Mr Noonan said.

"The consequences of making a mistake are obviously very serious for other construction workers, but also they are interacting with the public."

Ken McAlpine, education officer for the National Tertiary Education Union, said that $57.60 an hour matches up with what a senior lecturer could expect to be paid.

But he added that the employment market for academics was becoming increasingly casual.

"Something like 45 per cent of all academics are casual hourly paid," Mr McAlpine said.

"Then 55 per cent are full-time or part-time. Of that group about 40 per cent are on short-term contracts so only a minority of people have continuing employment."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures look at full-time non-managerial employees, including permanent full-time workers and people under other contact arrangements who work 35 hours or more per week.

Employees counted are responsible for their job only, and not for the management of other staff members.

Top 20 highest paid workers per hour (average hourly earnings)

1. Anaesthetists $124.10
2. Internal medicine specialist $88
3. Other medical practitioners $69.30 (In this group the ABS includes dermatologists, emergency medicine specialists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, ophthalmologists, pathologists, diagnostic and interventional radiologist, radiation oncologists and medical practitioners.)
4. Dental practitioners $68.60
5. Mining engineers $65.50
6. Chemical, gas, petroleum and power generation plant operators $63.90
7. Barristers $61.80
8. Financial dealers $60.80
9. Geologists and geophysicists $59.70
10. University lecturers and tutors $57.60
12. ICT sales professionals $57.60
11. Marine transport professionals $57.10
13. Electronics engineers $55.90
14. Other building and engineering technicians $55.70 (In this group the ABS includes maintenance planners, metallurgical or materials technicians, mine deputies and building and engineering technicians not elsewhere classified.)
15. Generalist medical practitioners $55.10
16. Crane, hoist and lift operators $54.60
17. Civil engineering professionals $53.90
18. ICT business and systems analysts $53.40
18. Train and tram drivers $53.40
19. Aircraft maintenance engineers $52.50
20. Medical imaging professionals $52.30

news.com.au 19 Aug 2013

Another (deliberate?) misinformation by the corporate media?

The seedy world of fraudulent lawyers and politicians is kept away from the list, as the children of the canon fodder are excluded from these professions.

A colleague in the legal profession, charges $400 per hour, and is booked out. The rate is the norm rather than an exception.

Another colleague in the service industry has a rate of $300 per hour, whereas an I.T. professional of moderate skill level sits at $160 per hour.

Politicians regularly sit on $66 per hour and higher, without the extra benefits, but then again that profession is out of reach of the pleb's children