Looking for a cash boost heading into the new year?
A career change could be the answer, with a new report this week revealing the industries set for the biggest wage boost moving into 2023.
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Mercer Australia’s annual Total Remuneration Survey found jobs within information technology (IT), sales and marketing and engineering are offering premium compensation for hard-to-fill roles.
Technology and digital jobs have remained in the hot jobs list, while the roles that are most difficult to recruit and retain include sales, marketing and product management; IT, telecom and internet; and engineering and science – this means competitive salary offers.
For example, new manager hires in project engineering are being offered a staggering 22 per cent higher average starting salary than those already in the role.
IT jobs reported a year-on-year salary increase as high as 17 per cent, with entry level advertising and marketing positions seeing year-on-year salary increases as high as 15 per cent. Some engineering roles are also commending double digits.
The survey discovered Australian employers are planning for a median salary increase of 3 per cent in 2023 across a range of industries, unchanged from 2022 despite rising inflation and labour shortages.
But there are some industries where workers can win.
For those looking for bang for their buck, the sectors forecasting the biggest salary growth in 2023 include technology – 3.5 per cent up from a 3.4 per cent increase in 2022 – and life sciences and mining and metals – 3.5 per cent up from 3 per cent in 2022.
The retail and wholesale sector is also expecting a growth of 3 per cent to 3.3 per cent from 2022 to 2023 while jobs in the manufacturing and chemicals sectors continue to show 0.2 per cent salary increases year to year.
With voluntary attrition rising to its highest point in five years and the increasingly competitive talent market, it is more important than ever employers review their approach to remuneration, Mercer Pacific head of market insights and data Chi Tran said.
“When you consider the fact that sectors such as IT and engineering are offering higher-than-average base salaries for new hires, it is easy to understand why we’re experiencing such movement in the market,” she said.
Earlier this week, the unemployment rate fell to 3.4 per cent, defying expectations of an increase.
But that could have an impact on wages.
BIS Oxford Economics head of macroeconomic forecasting Sean Langcake said the labour market was still too tight, which was starting to show up in wages growth.
The September quarter wage price index, which is typically slow to respond to the tight labour market and does not necessarily capture bonuses and other pay perks designed to attract and retain staff in a tight jobs market, lifted by 3.1 per cent annually in September.
“The question, now, is the third quarter a bumper quarter because of the Fair Work Commission’s minimum wage decision, or are we working into a phase where wages are growing faster,” Langcake said.
He said the Reserve Bank was trying to hike rates fast enough to get ahead of wages growth becoming a major contributor to inflation.
“While the labour market appears to be tracking sideways, the RBA will likely want to see more of a tapering in demand to avoid a sharp breakout in wage growth,” Langcake said.
Employment Minister Tony Burke said workers should actually be seeing more wages growth given the sustained low unemployment.
“While real wages aren’t going to be in front of the extraordinary inflation figures we see at the moment, they should be at a figure higher than 3.1 per cent,” he told reporters in Sydney.
Burke said the latest wages and labour-force data supported the need for expanded multi-employer bargaining, which is part of the workplace bill the Albanese government is trying to pass before Christmas.
HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the latest figures supported another 25 basis point rate rise in December.
“These figures, along with yesterday’s wages numbers for Q3, which surprised a little to the upside too, should be enough to convince the RBA that its optimal path is to continue to lift its cash rate a bit further,” Bloxham said.
– with AAP
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