Nurses, teachers and other key workers have taken umbrage with Joe Hockey's claim that people who cannot afford to buy housing in Sydney should "get a good job that pays good money".

It comes amid a tidal wave of criticism on social media that has variously labelled the Treasurer as privileged, out-of-touch and arrogant.

"What's his next observation? Poor people choose to be poor?" asked Sydney teacher Peter Murphy on Twitter. "Wait, he already said that," he wrote, referring to Mr Hockey's much-maligned musing that the poorest people "either don't have cars or actually don't drive very far".