SEEK: Advertised Salary Growth Is Treading Water

SEEK note that “advertised salaries on SEEK in Australia were 4.0% higher in October 2022 compared to October 2021. The slight uptick in annual growth is related to the COVID lockdowns of late 2021. Advertised salaries have grown by around 0.4% per month for the past several months.”

• “Advertised salary growth has been faster for low-paid jobs than for high-paid jobs in the year to October, and over the course of the pandemic. Relatively rapid advertised salary growth for lower-paid jobs reflects strong labour demand and the larger-than-usual increase in minimum and award wages that took effect from July this year.”
• “There’s a strong relationship between each state’s unemployment rate and its SEEK Advertised Salary Index (ASI) growth over time. ASI growth in each state is around the expected level, given the respective state’s unemployment rate.”
• “Although advertised salary growth remains solid, it’s not keeping up with the cost of living. It’s also not continuing to accelerate. This is bad news for workers in the short-term, but will reassure fiscal and monetary policymakers that we’re not seeing a wage-price spiral that would further push up inflation.”