ICT salaries under pressure in downturn, but Sydney, Adelaide fare best

Peter Dinham
Monday, 09 March 2009 18:42

IT Industry - Deals

If you’re lucky enough to be offered a job in the Australian ICT sector at the moment the salary you might be offered is more than likely to be somewhat less than you would have got before the economic downturn hit us, that is unless the job’s in Adelaide or Sydney.

Peoplebank, in its just released Quarterly IT&T Salary Index, says that while salaries for many of the 50-plus job titles tracked had fallen, there were significant fluctuations in salaries for similar roles in different cities, suggesting that demand remained a factor in current pay scales.

Salaries are patchy and according to Peoplebank, there’s no single trend. For instance, in Adelaide actual salary increases are being given and Sydney remains the highest paying city in most cases.

Peoplebank says the survey found that Sydney, which remains the most buoyant market, typically has the highest-paid roles.

For instance, enterprises are paying around $350,000 for a senior CIO/IT director, whereas similar roles in Perth and Brisbane attract a $200,000 base salary.

“Other than the Sydney premium – likely to be underpinned by strong demand for contract workers in the Government and financial services sectors – there is no national trend in pay scales,” says Peoplebank COO, Peter Acheson.
 
The salary index is based on salaries offered to permanent and contractor ICT workers over the December 08 – Feb 09 period in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth, and for each city records a range of salaries (junior, intermediate and senior) paid to permanent employees and many contract ICT workers in more than 50 job areas.

Acheson says that the downward pressure on salaries and contractor rates has been mounting over the past three months as the effects of the global financial crisis take hold.
 
“In the current market, there is sustained downward pressure on salaries, resulting from a reduced number of roles available and a concurrent rise in the number of candidates available. In fact, where a year ago we would have had one or two appropriately-skilled candidates for a contract role, today we would have four.”

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