Australian tech salaries drop amid market shift
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Tech workers in Australia are seeing a notable salary dip, with some experiencing cuts of over $20,000. This trend starkly contrasts with the elevated pay rates prevalent during the pandemic.
According to a report by The Australian Financial Review, increased layoffs in tech start-ups and fewer tech initiatives at large companies have intensified competition among job aspirants.
Data from recruitment firm Seek highlights this trend, showing a 35% decline in IT job ads year-on-year. While there’s still a demand for specialized roles in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI), the general tech employment landscape is changing.
Ravi Rughani, associate director of APAC for specialist IT recruiter Anson McCade, remarked on the pandemic’s erratic market, where business analysts sometimes earned an extra $300 daily.
However, cities like Sydney and Melbourne now see tech role salaries drop between 5-10%. For example, front-end developer salaries decreased from $180,000 in 2021 to an average of $165,000.
This salary decline is attributed to an aggressive hiring approach in 2021 and 2022, where inflated salaries became the norm, seeing an increase of up to 30% from pre-pandemic rates. But as migration patterns stabilize and venture capital funding dwindles, the job market is adapting.
“We’ve definitely seen a slowdown or cooling down in the market… There is still hiring out there, but companies can afford to be a lot more selective, and it’s a not candidate-driven market anymore,” Rughani added.
Richard White, CEO of software firm WiseTech Global, echoed this sentiment, pointing out the surge in job applications and the recent cutbacks by companies that once splurged post-pandemic.
