Data analysts are amongst those who can demand high pay increases. The Australian Financial Review reported that 32-year-old Dulitha Piyasena scored a $50,000 pay rise after leaving his Bank of Queensland job earlier this year.
It appears that staff can now demand significant pay increases, with staff who were on more than $200,000 a year declining a $30,000 pay rise.
That is the type of wage inflation that the Reserve Bank is afraid of but with an unemployment rate of just 3.5 per cent and a skills shortage, it is not surprising.
According to a report by the Australian Computer Society and Deloitte Access Economics, Australia is likely to face a shortfall of 280,000 workers. The reason for the shortage is that there are fewer foreign workers coming into Australia following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The information technology sector has been hit hard because Australia isn’t training enough IT workers and the foreign workers aren’t there, pushing wages up.
The federal government wants to hire 1,900 cyber experts but they have had issues attracting the talent.
Despite these massive Australian pay increases, Australia’s wages cannot compete internationally with the Local Talent Index ranking Australia 21st out of 100. South Korea came out on top with India second place and Argentina sitting at number three.
So what are other industries’ wages doing?
Hays’ Recruitment 2022/2023 Salary Guide spoke to employers and 88 per cent said they plan to increase salaries, compared with 67 per cent of employers last year. Of those 37 per cent intend to raise wages by more than three percent.
Just under half (43 per cent) of employers have said that they have increased salaries because of the skills shortage and just over half (56 per cent) of employees say that the skills shortage has given them more confidence to ask for a salary increase. 58 per cent intend to ask for a pay rise, up from 45 per cent last year.
Despite salary increases, Hays’ research found that 37 per cent of employees were dissatisfied with their salary but liked their jobs and said they had a good relationship with their manager.
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The industries with the highest skills shortages are:
- Banking (97 per cent)
- Manufacturing (95 per cent)
- Construction (94 per cent)
- Technology (94 per cent)
- Engineering (93 per cent)
- Architecture (93 per cent)
- Healthcare (92 per cent)
- Mining (92 per cent)
- Insurance (92 per cent)
- Retail (90 per cent).
Just under half of employers (44 per cent) said that they were struggling to fill positions because of a shortage of the necessary qualifications or experience.
Over half (67 per cent) of employees were concerned with getting a pay rise this year and 37 per cent wanted to gain a promotion.
Financial controllers in Sydney can expect a salary of $153,000 whereas that drops to $128,000 in Melbourne and $122,000 in Canberra.
Accounts staff with three to five years experience in Sydney have an average salary of $80,000 which goes up to $85,000 for five-ten years experience and $90,000 for over 10 years experience.
Those salary ranges drop to $61,000, $77,000 and $82,000 in Darwin.
Business services undergraduates in Sydney have a starting salary of $48,000 compared with only $42,000 in Melbourne, regional Queensland, Perth and Canberra.
A graduate architect in Sydney gets paid $14,000 more than a graduate in Canberra with the starting salaries being $77,000 and $63,000 respectively.
There is also a huge difference between what junior analysts get in Sydney versus Darwin. A junior analyst in Sydney will be paid $84,000 compared with only $51,000 in Darwin.
Construction managers are paid fairly well, especially in Melbourne with a guide of $260,000 compared with $150,000 in Canberra.
Contact centre staff do not get paid unless you work your way to the top and then you have a salary band of $133,000 to $240,000 with the average being $200,000 in Sydney. The average is the lowest in Perth at $150,000.
Most defence positions including program manager, operations manager and consultant have an average of $200,000 in NSW. The lowest rate is in South Australia at $180,000.
Principal/lead engineers and Engineering managers get paid an average of $210,000 in WA compared with $133,000 and $153,000 in South Australia.
CEOs are paid the highest rate out of any employee with those in not-for-profits receiving an average salary of $500,000 in Australia. In the commercial sector that jumps to over $700,000.
DON/Facility Managers and Executive DONs in the healthcare industry have an average of $128,000 and $160,000 respectively in NSW. That amount is the lowest in South Australia at $102,000 and $133,000 respectively.
Human Resources Directors of companies with more than 1000 employees are paid an average of $300,000 in Sydney compared with $184,000 in Hobart/Launceston.
Underwriting Managers in Insurance in Sydney are paid an average of $170,000 compared with just $105,000 in Canberra.
Heads of Claims receive an average salary of $180,000 compared with $150,000 in South Australia.
Operations Managers in Sydney are paid an average of $140,000 whereas that drops to $97,000 in Brisbane and $87,000 in Adelaide.
Marketing directors in Sydney earn an average of $220,000 compared with $133,000 in Hobart.
Those at the start of their career working as a graduate mining engineer can earn $110,000 in WA, compared with just $71,000 in South Australia.
Procurement managers in Sydney are paid an average of $160,000 compared with $110,000 in Darwin.
Property development managers get paid between $133,000 and $255,000 with the average being $184,000. That compares with $102,000 to $143,000 with an average of $122,000 in regional Queensland.
Infrastructure Architects in Sydney are paid an average of $180,000 with the lowest rate being $140,000 in Darwin.
Program managers are paid $210,000 in Sydney compared with $170,000 in regional Victoria.
Chief Technology Officers and Chief Information Officers in Sydney earn $306,000 compared with $194,000 and $163,000 in Hobart/Launceston.
The full report is available here.