Modest pay hikes expected this year despite dissatisfaction among employees
A new survey has found widespread dissatisfaction among Australian employees when it comes to their pay hike over the past year, according to reports.
Only 23% of employees in news.com.au's Great Aussie Debate said they were happy with a pay rise was within the past 11 months.
On the other hand, 17% of employees said they have never been satisfied by a pay rise, while another 15% said the last time they felt happy about it was more than a decade ago.
Source: News.com.au
The findings come despite salary growth picking up throughout 2024, according to the latest data from SEEK.
Its Advertised Salary Index showed there was a 0.3% increase in advertised salaries between November and December 2024. There was also a yearly increase of 3.6% and a quarterly 0.7% growth.
"Although the labour market is close to being broadly balanced, some economic indicators suggest it tightened a little towards the end of 2024 – so, it is unsurprising that advertised salary growth picked up slightly at the end of the year," said Dr. Blair Chapman, SEEK senior economist, in a statement.
Source: SEEK
Mercer's Australian Salary Outlook revealed that the actual median total salary increase in 2024 hit four per cent, slightly higher than the 3.8% projected for the year.
This year, employees can expect little to no changes when it comes to their pay hikes, according to reports.
Predictions from HR leaders in the AHRI Quarterly Australian Work Outlook also paint a bleak situation, where the mean basic pay increase in organisations (excluding bonuses) is expected to be 2.7% in the 12 months to October 2025.
"This is down from the 3.8% previously expected for the 12 months to July 2025," the report read.
Source: AHRI
Chapman also noted that advertised salary growth will also continue slowing in the coming year.
"Employment growth has slowed, and job ads have declined over the past year which suggests advertised salary growth is likely to resume slowing over the coming months as labour demand eased a lot over 2024," he said.
