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Wages growth for tax professionals runs ahead of the national average and in some advertised finance jobs the pay has gone into reverse, Seek data shows.
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Accounting salaries outpace insurance, banking
27 November 2023
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9 minute read
Accounting salaries are rising above trend at 5 per cent over the past year, according to data from job website Seek, outpacing the increase in insurance and superannuation and double the rate of banking and financial services.
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Seek’s data for October showed overall advertised salaries rose by 0.3 per cent, a slowdown compared to the previous three months, leaving the annual increase for all sectors at 4.6 per cent.
However, advertised salaries in both insurance and banking have gone backwards over the past three months, by 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent, while for accounting jobs pay has surged 1.2 per cent.
Accounting salaries rank in the top 10 fastest rising at 5 per cent annually, edging ahead of insurance at 4.8 per cent and trumping banking and financial services, at 2.5 per cent.
Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill said overall salary growth had returned to mid-year levels and was “solid but not exceptional”.
“Advertised salary growth still lags behind inflation and there’s no sign of an unsustainable wage-price spiral in the data, which is positive,” he said.
“But any wages growth with a four in front of it is bound to give the Reserve Bank pause for thought, particularly with sluggish productivity growth, so it is too early to say if we are out of the woods in terms of future interest rate rises.”
Seek said wages in the aged care sector had risen quickest, at 15 per cent since July, following a decision by the Fair Work Commission. It helped accelerate pay in community services and development to an annual rate of 8 per cent, putting it at the top of the pack.
Other strong performers included education and training (up 5.7 per cent for the year to October), advertising, arts and media (5.8 per cent), and consulting and strategy (6.1 per cent).
Information and communication technology (2 per cent) and government (1.6 per cent) continued to experience relatively weak growth in advertised salaries, Seek said, reflecting weak labour demand.
ABS data for the year to September showed wages growing at 3.4 per cent in the public sector against 4.1 per cent in the private sector.
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