A study conducted by the University of Melbourne shows Management and Finance are the best courses for better wages in Australia. Further, the younger generation and employees working in the management or finance sector are reaping the benefits of good organizational performance.
Managers and professionals from business management and finance who form the cream of the society are experiencing unparalleled wage growth since 2014. Employees from the economic or banking sector are attracting a sizeable pay hike every time they jump the ship or get hired directly out of campus.
The study further showed that age and education make a significant impact on deciding whether the compensation gets a substantial bump up or not.
Wage hikes, however, have been reduced from 2011 to 2017 to a mere two percent (2%)
Australian employees are battling an insufficient pay hike. With rising inflation rates and no rate cuts on interests, they are forced to look for ways to supplement their meager earnings.
The startling findings of the study
Salary bumps are mostly evident amongst the employees who have just begun their careers or are in the early stages of a job change. Moreover, a degree in management or finance ensures that it is jacked up considerably.
Meanwhile, employees from the service sector or laborers are drawing an insignificant pay rise. It also appears that university graduates, who have been enjoying appreciable compensation packages in the past, are no longer the obvious favorite.
The proportional increase in wages with higher educational degrees seems to have been reduced since the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2018.
Machine operators and unskilled workers are bearing the brunt of an almost stagnant salary growth since 2005, that is even before the dawn of GFC.
Additionally, the people working in the hospitality or agriculture sector are forced to put up with little to no hike in salaries.
The consequential effects
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has indicated that the nugatory wage increase will have a long-term effect socially as well as economically. It will not only widen the gap between the rich and the poor but also drive the poor to look for below-par jobs to work extra shifts to make ends meet.
Sally Auld, the chief economist at JPMorgan, stresses the fact that a flat wage structure coupled with Australia’s sluggish economy will demotivate people from investing in real estate as paying back mortgage will be exhausting.
Auld also highlights the fact that the country will witness a drastic increase in mortgage defaulters in the next twelve months as the repayments are already lagging by over a month. The fact that liabilities and debts are on the rise suggests that income growth has taken a backseat.
