A new study has revealed the jobs with the biggest pay hikes in the past year, with project engineers, customer service workers and market research analysts coming in at the top.
Data by global consultancy firm Mercer found employers have been forced to raise salary offers due to a tight labour market.
This included base salaries being hiked up by a median of 4 per cent, one per cent higher than expected, the Australian Financial Review reported.
More than 1,200 Australian organisations and close to 425,000 employees were surveyed, with some roles getting a beefier pay rise than others.
Entry level general project engineering roles had the highest average pay increase at 19 per cent, with experts claiming engineers were always in demand
The top three occupations were entry level general project engineering, senior customer relationship management and entry-level IT software development and operations workers, who saw 19 per cent, 18 per cent and 18 per cent rises respectively.
Entry-level market research and analysis came in at number four, with a 14 per cent hike, while entry-level general equipment repair saw a rise of 13 per cent.
Next in was entry-level industrial machinery mechanic whose pay packets went up a solid 12 per cent, then in at seventh was an 11 per cent increase for entry level civil/construction/structural engineering.
Coming in at number eight was entry-level information systems security with an 11 per cent average rise.
Entry-level electrical engineering also saw pay soar by 11 per cent while pay packages for entry level IT, telecom and internet generalist roles were boosted by 10 per cent.
With an engineering role seeing the largest pay hike in 2022-23, Aurecon chief people officer Liam Hayes said engineers were always in demand as Australia doesn’t produce enough of them.
‘There’s certainly still a need for us to look for those skills offshore because there’s not enough of those particular high-demand skills in Australia,’ Mr Hayes explained.
Labour shortages across the engineering profession had eased slightly since the peak of the worker squeeze last year, he added, with the company’s staff attrition rate now 20 per cent lower than in the 2022 financial year.
Mr Hayes said Aurecon had increased salaries in line with market conditions to attract and retain employees.
Senior customer relationship management and entry-level IT software development and operations workers came in second and third, both with an 18 per cent pay hike
This is in alignment with recommendations from the report which suggested workplaces instil employee retention strategies.
These included offering flexible working and learning and development programs, as well as higher internal minimum wages, incentive pay, referral bonuses, retention awards and more paid time off.
The report by global consultancy firm Mercer advised companies to integrate employee retention strategies into the workplace
