Australian IT wages growing unsustainably

Hot demand for IT talent is driving unsustainable wage growth across the industry, with nearly half of Australian IT workers commanding salaries of over $120,000 a year, new research indicates.

A study of 2185 technology professionals overwhelmingly from Australia, conducted by Halcyon Knights, found that many businesses are being priced out of the market for tech talent.

Data, analytics and business intelligence professionals are now the second-highest earners in the Australian ICT industry behind CIOs and IT leaders, with 20% earning over $200,000 per year. This is followed by security, with 15% on salaries of over $200,000.

But the study found no correlation between wages and job satisfaction, with workers in the low middle range $90,000 to $120,000 salary bracket reporting the highest job satisfaction. In addition, workers on the lowest $50,000 to $69,000 salary bracket reported the same levels of job dissatisfaction as the top earners with salaries of $200,000 or higher.

Halcyon Knights co-founder Lincoln Benbow said this demonstrates that salary warfare alone is not the way to attract and retain technology workers.

“Businesses are finding themselves hamstrung by the market. Without insight into untapped areas of transferrable skills, they’re battling for a shallow talent pool with only their wages as arsenal,” he said.

While salary is an important factor for IT job seekers, in reality, it’s the employers focused on flexibility, work-life balance and culture which are building happy and productive teams. “When advertising a role, your criteria will define your audience. Nominating only the necessary skills will stop the right candidate overlooking your job on a technicality, allowing you to reach a deeper and more diverse candidate pool.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/peshkova

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