Tech workers could be back in line for pay rises in 2026, with employers reopening salary talks as economic confidence lifts – but it helps if you have the right skills.

The 2026 Robert Half Salary Guide, based on a survey of 500 finance, accounting, IT and tech, and HR hiring managers, paints a positive picture for Australian workers.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that the economic outlook will positively impact their approach to setting salaries for staff this year, with the majority open to offering up to 10 per cent more than the salary on a job ad.

It found that nearly all businesses will be open to salary negotiations this year, and most that cannot meet the salary expectations of their workers will instead offer other perks and benefits to try to retain them.

Hiring managers in the tech sector were more willing than those in other industries to offer rises of between 6 and 10 per cent above initial salary proposals.

‘Precision pay market’

Robert Half director Tom Ward said the report shows that tech workers should feel optimistic about their prospects of a pay rise this year, but it won’t be a blanket boost.

“Tech workers should expect pay conversations to reopen in 2026, but not in a way that delivers broad, across-the-board rises,” Ward told Information Age.

“Australian employers are revisiting compensation as confidence improves, yet approvals are tighter and governance is sharper, so increases are being applied selectively rather than generously.”

Ward said 2026 will bring a “precision pay market” in Australia.

“Organisations are directing spend toward the skills that most directly protect delivery, reduce risk, and support growth, which means outcomes are diverging depending on your capability set and the work your team needs to steer.”

The report found that one of the main factors impacting the granting of a pay rise is the candidate having highly specialised skills, with more than half of hiring managers surveyed listing this as the main influence.

Other important factors are the length of experience possessed by the candidate and the available internal budget.

Specialist skills

When it comes to the tech sector, the most important thing for candidates to demonstrate is specialisation, Ward said.

“Candidates with hard-to-find expertise, paired with a clear track record of delivering results, have far more negotiating power than those with more generalist profiles,” he said.

The tech areas most likely to land pay rises are those “colliding with immediate business needs”, Ward said, such as cybersecurity, data, cloud computing and high-impact analytics.

“Negotiation is normal again, but it is not unlimited,” Ward said.

“Most employers will move within a controlled range unless the role is genuinely scarce or business critical, or the organisation is under urgent pressure to deliver, stabilise systems or manage risk.

“Candidates who can show specialised capability and measurable outcomes, and who negotiate the full package rather than base alone, are best positioned to secure a meaningful uplift in 2026.”

Recent LinkedIn data on ‘skills on the rise’ may be helpful for tech workers hoping to secure a pay rise this year.

The report shows the fastest growing skills which are shaping how organisations define talent and reveals prompt engineering is emerging as one of the fastest growing skills, thanks to the rise of generative AI.

There has also been significant recent growth in AI, machine learning and data intelligence, technical development and engineering, and communication and relationship building.

More than four in five of those surveyed said they would prioritise candidates who are confident using AI tools over others with more experience but not as strong AI capability.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last month found that the average earnings of IT managers in Australia fell last year, but wages in other key roles continued to rise.