Australian tech workers are the highest paid in Australia and earn $20 more per hour than the average employee.
According to HR platform Employment Hero’s SmartMatch Employment Report for December 2024, wages for workers in the science and technology sector increased by just under 4 per cent from the previous month, and by more than 6 per cent year-on-year.
The median hourly rate for all workers in science and technology is now $63.50, far above the overall hourly wage for all workers of $42.20.
The report uses the median hourly rate of both Employment Hero HR and payroll users and measures the percentage change over the previous 12 months.
It found that there was a 4.5 per cent annual increase in median hourly wages from December 2023 to December 2024, with 5.4 per cent growth for full-time workers.
Science and technology workers enjoyed a 6.1 per cent increase from the previous year, the second biggest jump for all sectors, behind construction and trade services.
Tech workers enjoy by far the biggest salaries compared with any industry, according to the data, with an average median hourly rate that is 33 per cent higher than the average.
The median hourly rate for tech workers equates to an annual salary of about $130,000.
The next best paid industry is construction and trade services, with a median hourly wage of $52.60, followed by healthcare and community services at $47.50.
Employment growth
The report also found there was a 7.9 per cent increase in employment in the technology and science sector, despite a decline of 1.2 per cent from November to December last year.
This was the equal highest rate of employment growth – the rate at which employment is increasing – out of any industry.
Tech employees are also working the most hours than workers in any other sector, with an average of 142 hours worked in December, according to the data.
This represented a 1 per cent month-on-month growth, and a 0.1 per cent annual increase.
The Seek Advertised Salary Index for December 2024 also revealed a slight uptick in advertised salaries for jobs listed on the employment marketplace of 0.3 per cent month-on-month.
Over the last year, listed salaries on job ads have increased by 3.6 per cent, the data showed.
“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,” Seek senior economist Dr Blair Chapman said.
Wages up but job ads down
An Employment Hero report early last year found the tech sector was one of the only industries to see wages go backwards in 2023.
It found the median hourly rate for tech workers dropped from $57.20 to $57.12 from 2022 to 2023 – and was the only sector that saw a decline in this period.
Despite this slight drop, the tech sector was still the highest paid across the economy at that time.
The Seek Advertised Salary Index from early last year found that advertised Australian salaries were rising ahead of inflation.
Within the tech sector, niche skills can help workers enjoy an even higher salary.
According to a survey last year by Robert Half, job candidates with cybersecurity skills could enjoy a pay rise of nearly 30 per cent, with other in-demand skills including leadership or management expertise, security and privacy, cloud architecture and operations, and network and systems administration.
While tech jobs are among the best paid, they are also in high demand.
According to recent data, the number of people applying for tech jobs in Australia has more than doubled in the last two years, while the number of roles being advertised has fallen to pre-pandemic levels.
This has led to many workers struggling to find a new job, with nearly 40 per cent of job hunters being unable to land a new role, according to a survey earlier this year.