Aussie workers receiving the strongest wage growth, according to SEEK

Some of Australia’s lowest paid workers have seen the biggest pay rise over the last year, according to the latest wage data.

Some of Australia’s lowest paid workers – hairdressers, butchers and waitresses – have seen the biggest pay rise over the last year, at a time when the cost of living crisis has started to bite.

According to the latest data by SEEK, advertised wage growth in trades and services have surged by a massive 6.3 per cent over the last year to January.

Advertised pay index growth by state/territory. Picture: SEEK

Senior Economist at SEEK Matt Cowgill said the wage increase for these workers coincided with the end of pandemic lockdowns.

“Since we started opening up just over a year and a bit we have seen demand for workers has been strongest in the lowest paid occupations – such as hospitality, transport,” he said.

“In some of those industries we are seeing a bidding war for candidates.”

Some of Australia’s lowest paid workers – hairdressers, butchers and waitresses – have seen the biggest pay rise over the last year. Picture: Getty

Advertised salaries on average grew up to 4.4 per cent which Mr Cowgill described as “strong” but warned “there are signs we might have seen the peak”.

“The rate of month-on-month growth in advertised salaries has fallen for two consecutive months and was relatively anaemic 0.2 per cent in January,” he said.

“This moderation echoes some other labour market indicators, such as the unemployment rate and job ad volumes. However, the labour market is still very tight, just not as tight as it was a few months ago.”

Other industries experiencing significant pay increases include design and architecture (6.2 per cent) and manufacturing, transport and logistics workers (5.8 per cent).

“The disappointing thing is that all these industries are lagging behind inflation at 7.8 per cent, so wages are falling in real time,” he said.

The industries which have seen the smallest wage growth are in legal jobs (0.4 per cent), consulting (0.6 per cent) and science and technology (0.8 per cent).
Australia’s annual household inflation hit its highest level since the 1990s at 7.8 per cent in December, 2022 — the latest figures published.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned at the time inflation will remain “higher than we would like for longer than we’d like”, and would be the “defining challenge” in the economy in 2023 as it was in 2022”.

Advertised salary increases in a year

Trades, Services: 6.3 per cent

Design, Architecture: 6.2 per cent

Manufacturing, Transport, Logistics: 5.8 per cent

Insurance, Superannuation: 5.7 per cent

Administration, Office Support: 5.5 per cent

Government: 5.3 per cent

Accounting: 5.1 per cent

Retail: 4.9 per cent

Mining: 4.4 per cent

Engineering: 4.4 per cent

Real Estate: 4.4 per recent

Hospitality, Tourism: 4.2 per cent

Call Centre: 4.2 per cent

Banking, Financial Services: 4 per cent

Health Care, Medical: 3.8 per cent

Information Communications and Technology: 3.5 per cent

Advertising, Arts, media: 3.5 per cent

Community Services, Development: 3.2 per cent

Marketing, Communications: 2.9 per cent