THE boom might be over, but some of Australia’s highest paid workers are still sitting pretty in mining.
Miners are being offered $115,005 on average and $133,169 if they’re in management, according to the latest report on jobs with the highest advertised wages by SEEK.
Meanwhile the average advertised job pays $81,235 and Australia still has record low wages growth.
“Mining, resources and energy is still Australia’s highest paying industry. The decline in job advertising associated with the mining downturn looks to have finally turned and earning prospects remain strong for those working in this industry,” said SEEK spokesperson Sarah Macartney.
“In Western Australia, this January, the industry enjoyed the greatest advertising growth, with job ads on SEEK up 45 per cent year on year,” she said.
Of the top five paying industries, all are male dominated.
Second to the mining industry, the highest paying sector is consulting and strategy, which is paying an average of $108,471 a year, followed by construction at $106,693 and engineering at $103,247.
The best paying industry overwhelmingly dominated by women is health and medical, which is paying $87,373 on average.
As well as the highest paying industries, the SEEK report reveals the highest and lowest paying jobs.
Architects within the Information, Communication and Tech sector, engineers and IT managers all earn around $130,000.
And while the health sector ranked lower overall, GPs are up there in the top five highest paying jobs, collecting $129,635 on average.
“We predict General Practitioners [GPs] will in the remain a top paying job on SEEK because as Australians live longer and our population continues to increase, so does as their services are essential for enhancing the wellbeing and longevity of Australian lives through medical health care,”
Meanwhile it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the lowest paying jobs are those dominated by women.
Administration workers employed as receptionists for data entry, as well as retail assistants and manufacturing workers are all being offered less than $50,000 on average.
The news no doubt comes as another kick in the guts for many women. Overall women earn 16 per cent less than men, according to the latest ABS data.
The gender pay gap is often put down to the choice by many women to work part-time, take career breaks and work in traditionally lower paid female sectors, such as health and education.
But a new study has also found that if women want a pay rise they are more likely to be told by their managers to get more “confidence” and “experience” if they are to be successful.
The research by Bain & Company and Chief Executive Women shows almost 60 per cent of men were promoted twice or more in the past five years compared with only 41 per cent of females.
Bianca Hartge-Hazelman is the editor of women’s money magazine financy.com.au.
