After a period of intense skills shortages, the pressure on employers is beginning to ease, according to new research from recruiter Hays.
Its latest annual salary guide shows a 20% drop in the number of employers reporting moderate or severe shortages compared to last year. At the same time, business confidence is on the rise – 64% of organisations expect increased activity in the year ahead, up from 55% last year.
Despite improving conditions, salary growth is slowing. While 86% of employers plan to offer pay rises in 2025, this is down from a peak of 95% last year. The size of these increases is also shrinking, with 25% fewer employers planning raises above 3%.
Continuing tension between employees’ pay expectations and what employers are willing to offer is fuelling job mobility, with over 77% of employees actively looking or planning to look for new roles in the next 12 months. Top benefits job hunters are looking for include a pay rise (71%), learning or developing technical skills (63%) and being able to work more flexibly (54%).
To help accountants navigate this landscape and see how their own compensation packages stack up, we’ve crunched salary data to compare typical salaries by function and role across metro and regional areas.