Media statement Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pay rates for skills up; unskilled, down

Pay rates overall dropped in 2010 for a quarter of 215 job types surveyed in the Employers National Wage and Salary Survey* just released, with no change in the pay rates of a further eight per cent of positions.

And the average number of sick days being taken now is higher than the legal entitlement. The law provides for five days sick leave, but the average number taken in 2010 was 5.3 days.

Employers were also asked the highest number of days of sick leave taken in the year by any one employee; the average for them was 16.54 days.

Unskilled jobs are most affected by the tough economic conditions said David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Employers and Manufacturers Association.

"Unskilled job positions averaged a 0.1 per cent pay decline, semi-skilled pay rates improved a little and pay rates for skilled and management pay increased an average of 1.7 per cent," he said.

"In fact there were a larger number of falls in pay rates for more job positions this year to August (when the survey was run) than for the 2009 survey, indicating the full effects of the recession are still filtering through the system.

"In the main it appears current staff are not having their pay cut and some are getting a modest increase. But overall, rates decline when a person leaves and the new appointment is on a lesser rate.

"The survey results for senior management threw up wide variations with a third of positions receiving no pay increase and another third receiving double digit pay rises. The median pay rise for senior managers was 2.5 per cent and the mean six per cent.

"The patchy nature of the economic recovery is reflected in the wide variation in pay rate changes between sectors.

"Difficult conditions in the construction, manufacturing and distribution sectors are reflected in average pay rate changes for these sectors respectively of +0.75, +0.9 and -0.1 per cent.

"With no changes in other benefits and employment conditions, its clear that cash is still king.

"The average pay review for current employees was three per cent compared to 2.5 per cent in 2009, but employers are forecasting a slightly lower pay review for the year ahead.

"But the survey is designed to provide actual pay rates rather than percentage changes from one year to another," Mr Lowe said.

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