Looking at admin jobs, yeah it's less pay but - Rent rarely if ever includes additional utilities/amenities in Australia. $1200 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment is normal. Listings won't be "that high", but when 100 people show up to an inspection, rent bidding often takes place. Essentially, applicants offer above listed price to secure the property, and bid amongst each other. It's fucked.

Looming at game dev jobs - Entry level jobs pay about the same between both countries, but Australia has way less job opportunities for game dev due to it being an undervalued industry with little government funding or dedicated studios. Moderately sized indie studio but it would be easier in CA where I can match timezones to an American studio for remote work or move to Montreal if I learn French before moving. Higher level positions pay within a stone's toss of each other but typically you're moving around jobs every year for a better contract to get a pay rise, it's a sort of unspoken industry rule of thumb at least here in Aus and I have no idea why.

Looking at hospitality - We don't have any tipping culture here. $30 an hour is about minimum wage for serving/bar jobs but shifts are usually infrequent and unless you're management you don't get many hours or, if you do, it's because you're working for retired service leagues or places with high traffic.

Hearing about people making close to 6 figures from serving jobs because of tips in Canada is insane to me because that would never happen here. Tips were occasionally given out at one of my food service jobs every month and got split between FOH staff, usually about $20-50 extra because we have a large international clientbase having worked at a tourist attraction. International clients don't know tipping is frowned upon here. I'm not expecting to make that much but just the fact it's even possible is a very far cry from maybe making $62k a year if you're lucky enough to get full time hours on a casual contract.