Yeah, consider something like the starting wage for even a responsible job like customs and immigration at an international airport is $7.50. Reckon you'd get someone prepared to work at a 'proper' job like that for £3.25 here? You'd be lucky to get a spotty oik who cannot string two words together...
I agree in the service industry, their tips system works wonders- service is
vastly better than here. So much so, that for the first few weeks back here after my trip to america I actually thought waiting staff were being intentionally rude.
Better paying jobs do seem to be much better paying though. I was chatting with a chap who makes about £100K a year here (pro rata, but he has about 15 weeks off and gets £70-80K) who had been living in America the past 10 years. He reckoned he made about twice as much out there, like for like (in terms of what he could buy with his pay, not in terms of the exchange rate).