Aust ICT salaries enjoy growth: Survey

Rob Durie, head of the AIIA, said the real increase figure was derived after subtracting the June 2004 consumer price index figure of 2.5 percent from the 3.9 percent average increase in the nominal base salary of incumbent employees over the August to August period.

Durie pointed out to ZDNet Australia   the sharp growth in salaries for human resources and marketing personnel in ICT as sparked largely by intense competition for quality people whose skills are portable across a range of industries.

Human resources staff saw their average base salary before CPI adjustment rise by 5.8 percent, while marketing staff saw theirs rise by 5.3 percent.

Durie also said in a statement many ICT organisations were restructuring their operations and some human resources staff were now performing roles with greater responsibilities, including Asia-Pacific countries as well as Australian operations.

"The salary increases indicate that our industry is taking care of its key support people," he said.

An analysis of survey-on-survey salary market movements -- accounting for factors such as rates new employees are hired at, increases for existing employees and loss of rates for employees leaving organisations -- showed some e-business roles were also gaining ground.

Multimedia project managers and content authors each received a 7.1 percent increase in total fixed remuneration, while e-business programmers received a 6.6 percent rise.

The survey provides salaries and benefits information on more than 27,000 employees from 95 organisations in over 200 individual job roles, the AIIA said.

It is conducted in March and August each year.