IT Salaries in Australia
Jun 18th 2003, 4:02 am
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2003
Location: Auckland
Posts: 161
IT Salaries in Australia
A new survey to be released by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) this week paints a sober portrait of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector for contractors, reporting many independent IT workers are being forced to cut their hourly rates to match tougher competition in an increasingly harsher industry.
According to the 2003 ACS Remuneration Survey, 24% of contractors and consultants responding to the survey were forced to decrease their rates between April 2002 and April 2003 in order to keep working. Some 46% say they kept their rates at the same level over the past 12 months, while the remainder say they increased their rates.
The combination of these rates resulted in a median rate increase of zero for these professionals, the ACS report states.
Contracting rates reported by respondents varied considerably, ranging from $A50 to $A100 per hour, depending on the work being undertaken, according to the report.
Two-thirds of those identifying themselves as contractors were working as consultants at an average rate of $A75 an hour, project managers at A$90 an hour while programmer/analysts attracted an average $A65 per hour.
It wasn't good news for salary-based ICT professionals either, with the report finding average ICT salaries had risen by 3.1% over the 12 months to 2003 -- short of the Australian Bureau of Statistic's (ABS) consumer price index (CPI) growth of 3.4% and significantly lower than its overall Average Weekly Earnings increase of 4.7%. The average growth rate recorded in the ACS' s previous survey (May 2001 to May 2002) was 4%.
Of those ICT professionals surveyed by the ACS, private sector IT employees experienced 3.1 growth in remuneration paid. Public sector employees were found to be the best off, matching CPI growth rates quoted by the ABS. Employees in the education sector fared worst, recording 2.3 per growth over the 12 months.
ACS national president Richard Hogg says the slackening growth rates represented a downward trend across the ICT sector, which began to surface 15 months ago.
"The average increase of 3.1% is the lowest recorded in the 11-year history of the ACS salary survey," he says.
"But it comes as no surprise given the current situation in the ICT sector.
"The results show that ICT professionals can no longer demand a premium for their knowledge and skills compared to other professions, that salaries are remaining static and that the tough times are affecting both employed staff and independent contractors."
The survey, which was conducted for the ACS by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia, was based on responses from 1612 ACS contract and salaried members across Australia. Contractors and consultants represented about 35% of respondents.
On the positive side, Hogg says the ACS expects the ICT market to turn around in the next year, driven by the "gung-ho" attitude of the government towards growth in the economy.
But, Hogg warned, "rates will stay relatively low -- we won't go back to the late 90s and early 2000 rates when A$200 an hour was normal".
"Those days are gone, with the exception of niche markets, such as large-scale strategic planning, which requires very focused skills, and large consulting firms --not a one-man band," he says.
The survey also looked into the skills of respondents, finding nearly two-thirds of programmers and analysts possessed programming knowledge in at least five major applications. Of these, the most popular was SQL at 67%. Other widespread skills set included Cobol, CC+, Unix, Oracle, Visual Basic and Java.
ICT Levels of Income
Job Function Median/Total Package
General management: $A147,225
Sales & marketing: $A129,028
IT management: $A111,488
Consulting: $A109,000
Project management: $A103,968
Project management: $A103,968
Research & development: $A94,985
Database administrator: $A92,923
Systems management: $A90,470
Project leader: $A87,284
Research & teaching: $A74,597
Programmer/analyst: $74,597
Analysis & testing: $A73,488
LAN manager: $A70,850
Computer support: $A64,406
Teaching/training only: $A64,077
According to the 2003 ACS Remuneration Survey, 24% of contractors and consultants responding to the survey were forced to decrease their rates between April 2002 and April 2003 in order to keep working. Some 46% say they kept their rates at the same level over the past 12 months, while the remainder say they increased their rates.
The combination of these rates resulted in a median rate increase of zero for these professionals, the ACS report states.
Contracting rates reported by respondents varied considerably, ranging from $A50 to $A100 per hour, depending on the work being undertaken, according to the report.
Two-thirds of those identifying themselves as contractors were working as consultants at an average rate of $A75 an hour, project managers at A$90 an hour while programmer/analysts attracted an average $A65 per hour.
It wasn't good news for salary-based ICT professionals either, with the report finding average ICT salaries had risen by 3.1% over the 12 months to 2003 -- short of the Australian Bureau of Statistic's (ABS) consumer price index (CPI) growth of 3.4% and significantly lower than its overall Average Weekly Earnings increase of 4.7%. The average growth rate recorded in the ACS' s previous survey (May 2001 to May 2002) was 4%.
Of those ICT professionals surveyed by the ACS, private sector IT employees experienced 3.1 growth in remuneration paid. Public sector employees were found to be the best off, matching CPI growth rates quoted by the ABS. Employees in the education sector fared worst, recording 2.3 per growth over the 12 months.
ACS national president Richard Hogg says the slackening growth rates represented a downward trend across the ICT sector, which began to surface 15 months ago.
"The average increase of 3.1% is the lowest recorded in the 11-year history of the ACS salary survey," he says.
"But it comes as no surprise given the current situation in the ICT sector.
"The results show that ICT professionals can no longer demand a premium for their knowledge and skills compared to other professions, that salaries are remaining static and that the tough times are affecting both employed staff and independent contractors."
The survey, which was conducted for the ACS by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia, was based on responses from 1612 ACS contract and salaried members across Australia. Contractors and consultants represented about 35% of respondents.
On the positive side, Hogg says the ACS expects the ICT market to turn around in the next year, driven by the "gung-ho" attitude of the government towards growth in the economy.
But, Hogg warned, "rates will stay relatively low -- we won't go back to the late 90s and early 2000 rates when A$200 an hour was normal".
"Those days are gone, with the exception of niche markets, such as large-scale strategic planning, which requires very focused skills, and large consulting firms --not a one-man band," he says.
The survey also looked into the skills of respondents, finding nearly two-thirds of programmers and analysts possessed programming knowledge in at least five major applications. Of these, the most popular was SQL at 67%. Other widespread skills set included Cobol, CC+, Unix, Oracle, Visual Basic and Java.
ICT Levels of Income
Job Function Median/Total Package
General management: $A147,225
Sales & marketing: $A129,028
IT management: $A111,488
Consulting: $A109,000
Project management: $A103,968
Project management: $A103,968
Research & development: $A94,985
Database administrator: $A92,923
Systems management: $A90,470
Project leader: $A87,284
Research & teaching: $A74,597
Programmer/analyst: $74,597
Analysis & testing: $A73,488
LAN manager: $A70,850
Computer support: $A64,406
Teaching/training only: $A64,077
Jun 18th 2003, 11:41 am
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Sutherland - til we find a house with a nice kitchen! Oh, even better - found one with a nice pool.
Posts: 93
Not much different than here then.
As a permy myself I had a very small pay rise two years ago, no pay rise this year.
For the contractors here, all have had 2x 10% pay cuts imposed upon them in the past year or so => 19% decrease.
As a permy myself I had a very small pay rise two years ago, no pay rise this year.
For the contractors here, all have had 2x 10% pay cuts imposed upon them in the past year or so => 19% decrease.
Jun 18th 2003, 12:13 pm
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2003
Location: Going Home
Posts: 1,215
Reckon Australia is worse than here as there are far less jobs, and Perth worse still. On my reckoning you have to earn twice what you earn here else you will be worse off. 
Jun 18th 2003, 1:24 pm
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Thanks for the info Smithone!
Hubby is in IT our agent has just sent the skills assesment off today!
(Think I need to change my Avtar the whole world and his mother seems to be on Whinie the Pooh today
)
Earlswood
Hubby is in IT our agent has just sent the skills assesment off today!
(Think I need to change my Avtar the whole world and his mother seems to be on Whinie the Pooh today
)Earlswood
Dec 4th 2003, 1:19 pm
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Posts: 31
Hi Everyone,
I am in the process of applying for PR to Oz, probably Melbourne.
I am hopefully going in as a Proffessional Engineer with IEAUST, with my experiance working as a Consultant in Building Services Engineering Practice for 6 years +.
Can anyone advise me of rates/salaries/best locations for work??
It would be greatly appreciated.
John
I am in the process of applying for PR to Oz, probably Melbourne.
I am hopefully going in as a Proffessional Engineer with IEAUST, with my experiance working as a Consultant in Building Services Engineering Practice for 6 years +.
Can anyone advise me of rates/salaries/best locations for work??
It would be greatly appreciated.
John
