Kelly Services a world leading provider of workforce solutions has released its 2011 Salary Guide to help employers and jobseekers manage their way through the challenges of the recruitment process.

The guide reports on salary ranges for a wide scope of roles and provides commentary on the employment market in each State.

Penny O’Reilly, General Manager, Kelly Services said, “The Australian employment market is undergoing a fundamental shift at present, with employers and employees showing a preference for part-time employees over full-time employees. Ms O’Reilly said. “Rising living costs are forcing the baby boomer population to take up part-time work and stay in the workforce longer. Younger workers are proactively looking for a better work/life balance, and ongoing policy uncertainty surrounding Australia’s mining and resources activity is creating a difficult period for businesses.

“The extent of the change and the underlying vulnerability it is creating is being masked by a steady unemployment rate. This means for many organisations the shift is not even on the radar.”

The robust recovery and growth evident in the Australian economy during the last half of 2010 settled during the first half of 2011. This led to many business leaders taking the opportunity to reassess their long-term strategies in light of changing employee attitudes and policy uncertainty at a national level.

Despite Australia’s mining boom continuing to forge ahead, a lack of long term certainty created by the pending carbon tax and falling consumer sentiment means a level of “pessimism” has crept back into the business community.

Employers are once again choosing to take a defensive approach to hiring, shying away from full-time hires, and choosing to hire part-time or temporary employees as a stop-gap while they assess the changing market.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics national unemployment figures between April and June 2011 demonstrate this shift showing that more than 10,000 full-time jobs were lost to the economy across April, May and June 2011 while 21,100 part-time jobs were created.

Ms O’Reilly said, “Although overall hiring intentions have slowed this year compared to 2010, many employers are still looking to hire. Identifying and attracting high quality candidates in a talent short market continues to be a major issue, which means that candidates remain in the position of power to be selective about the roles they consider and more demanding about base salaries and other financial benefits.

“Kelly Services expects that certainty and confidence will begin returning to the market over the last quarter of 2011 and the first half of 2012. During this time demand for permanent hiring will increase sharply as most employers shift back to a more traditional business structure that relies more heavily on permanent staff than temporary staff,” O’Reilly said.

Commentary by State
Australian Capital Territory
* Kelly Services is seeing is remarkably high levels of business confidence in the ACT, evidenced by the robust and bullish hiring attitudes seen in the first quarter of 2011.
* While the public sector heavily underpins the strength of the employment market in the ACT, Kelly Services expects to see higher than usual activity levels within the private sector this year as employers prepare for a predicted growth phase, especially within areas such as IT, accounting and finance.
* The increase in private sector activity in the ACT is predicted to drive the shortage of IT, accounting and administration professionals within the public sector even higher, as public sector talent looks to move into the private arena.
* While the public sector is working hard to streamline employment and promotion processes in a bid to compete with private organisations on the attraction and retention front, talent shortage still continues to loom as a major issue for government.
* 2011 salaries have been inflated slightly as a result of the influx of private sector activity.

New South Wales
* While confidence, along with high level hiring activity returned to the NSW financial sector during 2010, early in 2011 Kelly Services is seeing NSW employers shifting to a more cautious approach to hiring.
* With confidence expected to return to construction, mining and resources on a national scale during the last quarter of 2011, Kelly Services believes the NSW employment market is in a position to regain its traditional strength.
* Kelly Services expects sectors including banking and finance, engineering, construction, property and IT will respond strongly to renewed confidence at a national level.

Queensland
* Without doubt the catastrophic weather events that hit Queensland during the first two months of 2011 had a tremendous impact on the state.
* During this period Kelly Services has seen employers focus 100 per cent of their attention on the rebuild process. In most cases this meant a return to the same defensive, temporary hiring mode employers demonstrated during the GFC.
* Unsurprisingly, Kelly Services expects engineering and construction experts, trades people and project managers will continue to be in demand throughout Queensland into the middle of 2012.
* During the second half of 2011 Kelly Services expects some level of normality to surface in areas of the Queensland market not as severely impacted by the weather including professional services, financial services and IT, it is widely accepted the full recovery process including industries such as mining, resources and tourism will not be complete until well into 2012.

South Australia
* The make-up of the South Australian employment market is changing with South Australia no longer reliant on the manufacturing industry to underpin its employment strength.
* According to Kelly Services this shift is part of a wider growth trend within South Australia that has seen business activity and demand for talent increase across IT, professional services, construction, and engineering.
* Employers in South Australia appear to be taking a cautiously optimistic approach with demand increasing for temporary employees as employers look to meet growth aspirations without the commitment of long-term, permanent employment contracts.
* Kelly Services expects business confidence levels, as well as hiring activity levels to continue growing in South Australian during 2011, with high growth industries such as healthcare and construction expected to dominate the South Australian market for the remainder of 2011.

Victoria
* Kelly Services says business confidence remains high in Victoria with a number of significant and major infrastructure projects scheduled to start and hiring activity levels within the construction, professional services and scientific industries showing signs of continued improvement.
* Despite the ongoing confidence, Kelly Services says Victorian employers look to be maintaining a focus on short-term, temporary and contract hiring, especially in the banking and finance area.
* Kelly Services expects to see a shift to a more permanent focus during the course of 2011 as the long term visibility available to employers becomes apparent.
* The drive for business growth coupled with above average hiring activity within Victoria is expected to continue during 2011, underpinned by high levels of business activity in the financial and professional services sectors, which in turn will increase demand for IT and administrative talent.

Western Australia
* Western Australia continues to be the main driver and overall powerhouse of positivity in the Australian employment market, with significant growth continuing to be recognised across the mining and resources sector.
* Kelly Services is seeing the undeniable strength and continued growth of the WA resources sector has result in flow-on demand for talent in the construction and engineering industry as well as the professional services, financial services, and IT industries as new mines are established and require infrastructure and support.
* Although the WA economy continues to gain momentum, the skills shortage continues to bite at exacerbated levels given the State’s geographical isolation and the volume of multi-billion dollar construction projects currently underway.
* WA wages are predicted to spike sharply again during 2011 with wage growth predictions sitting anywhere between 5 per cent and 20 per cent, depending on the specifics of the role and industry.
* Despite WA-based employers being accustomed to sourcing talent from interstate or overseas. According to Kelly Services, in many cases the talent shortage is the only factor stifling higher activity levels.
* Kelly Services expects that employers will continue to offer well above market average financial incentives and remuneration in order to attract quality talent.