A new survey has revealed the jobs with the biggest wage increases over the past year, with project engineers, customer service representatives and market research analysts taking the top spot.
Data from global consultancy Mercer shows that employers are being forced to increase their salary offers due to the tight labor market.
This included increasing base salaries by an average of 4 percent, one percent higher than expected Australian Financial Statement reported.
More than 1,200 Australian organizations and almost 425,000 employees were surveyed, with some roles receiving bigger pay increases than others.
Entry-level general project engineering roles had the highest average pay increase at 19 percent, with experts claiming engineers were always in demand
The top three occupations were entry-level general project engineers, senior customer relationship management and entry-level IT software development and operations staff, which saw increases of 19 percent, 18 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Entry-level market research and analysis came in at number four, up 14 percent, while general entry-level equipment repair saw a 13 percent increase.
Next in the rankings was an entry-level industrial machinery technician, whose pay packages rose by as much as 12 percent, and seventh was an 11 percent increase for civil/structural/structural engineering.
Entry-level information systems security came in at number eight, with an average increase of 11 percent.
Wages also rose by 11 percent in entry-level electrical engineering, while pay packages for entry-level IT, telecoms and internet generalists increased by 10 percent.
With the engineering role seeing the biggest pay rise in 2022-2023, Aurecon Chief People Officer Liam Hayes said engineers were always in high demand because Australia doesn’t produce enough of them.
“There’s certainly still a need to look for those skills overseas because there aren’t enough of those specific, in-demand skills in Australia,” Mr Hayes explained.
Labor shortages across the engineering profession have eased somewhat since the peak of the labor market tightness last year, he added, with the company’s employee turnover rate now 20 percent lower than in fiscal 2022.
Mr Hayes said Aurecon has increased salaries in line with market conditions to attract and retain employees.
Senior associates in customer relationship management and entry-level IT software development and operations came in second and third, both with an 18 percent pay increase
This is in line with the report’s recommendations, which suggested that workplaces initiate employee retention strategies.
These include offering flexible working, learning and development programmes, as well as higher internal minimum wages, incentive payments, referral bonuses, retention rewards and more paid time off.
The report from global consultancy Mercer advised companies to integrate employee retention strategies into the workplace