The Top 20 Jobs That Have Seen the Largest Wage Increase, According to SEEK

Most of us are feeling the pinch between the rental and cost of living crises right now. New data from employment marketplace SEEK has revealed which jobs have seen the highest increase in advertised salary in the past year. So, if you’re seeking a job that comes with a bump in salary, these are the industries and roles you should be looking into.

According to SEEK’s advertised salaries report, in the year up to January 2024, salaries rose on average 4.5 per cent. Salaries rose the most in Tasmania, with 5.6 per cent.

Month on month, however, salaries only grew on average by 0.2 per cent, which is the slowest monthly growth since December 2021.

Further employment data covering the period between January 2023 and January 2024 shows the top industries that have increased their advertised salaries on SEEK as being:

• Community Services & Development – 8.9%
• Education and Training – 6.2%
• Consulting and Strategy – 6.1%
• Sport and Recreation – 5.9%
• Advertising, Arts and Media – 5.3%
• Insurance and Superannuation – 5.2%
• Healthcare and Medical – 5.0%
• Legal – 5.0%
• Accounting – 4.8%
• Engineering – 4.6%
• Real Estate and Property – 4.6%
• Trades and Services – 4.5%
• Sales – 4.5%
• Hospitality and Tourism – 4.5%
• Administration and Office Support – 4.3%
• Mining, Resources and Energy – 4.1%
• Retail and Consumer Products – 3.9%
• Government – 3.7%
• Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics – 3.4%
• Call Centre and Customer Service – 3.3%
• Construction – 3.1%
• Science and Technology – 3.0%
• Human Resources and Recruitment – 2.8%
• Banking and Financial Services – 2.2%
• Marketing and Communications – 1.9%
• ICT – 1.9%
• Design and Architecture – 1.3%

Insight from SEEK’s Senior Economist, Matt Cowgill, revealed that factors like rising unemployment are impacting wage growth:

“With unemployment rising, and with fewer jobs advertised than a year ago, employers aren’t having to compete quite as hard for talent to fill vacant roles, lessening the need for wage increases for new hires. The good news for workers is that advertised salaries are now growing faster than inflation, after a period of declining real wages.”

Additionally, SEEK also provided data on some of the specific roles that received a salary bump in the past 12 months, the top 20 of which were:

1. Fitter technician (trades and services): $93,400 average salary, 28 per cent salary growth
2. Licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (manufacturing, transport and logistics): $114,800 average salary, 27 per cent
3. Residential personal carer (healthcare and medical): $62,4000 average salary, 25 per cent
4. Support assistant (community services and development): $69,700 average salary, 24 per cent
5. Road train operator (manufacturing, transport and logistics): $113,200 average salary, 24 per cent
6. Retail team leader (retail and consumer products): $60,200 average salary, 21 per cent
7. Team member (retail and consumer products): $54,400 average salary, 21 per cent
8. Planner (administration and office support): $82,800 average salary, 21 per cent
9. Operations engineer (engineering): $123,500 average salary, 19 per cent
10. Carer (healthcare and medical): $63,200 average salary, 18 per cent
11. Carer (community services and development): $65,300 average salary, 16 per cent
12. Service manager (manufacturing, transport and logistics): $129,200 average salary, 18 per cent
13. Estimator (mining, resources and energy): $142,800 average salary, 17 per cent
14. Lifestyle assistant (community services and development): $63,300 average salary, 17 per cent
15. Cleaner (community services and development): $61,400 average salary, 16 per cent
16. Sales representative (retail and consumer products): $66,100 average salary, 16 per cent
17. Traffic controller (construction): $75,500 average salary, 16 per cent
18. Claims officer (insurance and superannuation): $86,300 average salary, 16 per cent
19. Careworker (community services and development): $65,900 average salary, 16 per cent
20. Personal care assistant (community services and development): $65,400 average salary, 16 per cent

This data also only relates to roles that choose to disclose salary in the job ad. If you’re unsure how much a company is willing to pay, you can check out this hack to find the salary range.

Lead Image Credit: iStock

This article has been updated since its original publish date.