SEEK Advertised Salary Index - July
The SEEK Advertised Salary Index (ASI) measures the growth in advertised salaries for jobs posted on SEEK in Australia. This quarterly SEEK ASI report contains industry and state trends. There will be briefer monthly reports in September and October.
NATIONAL ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS
Advertised salary growth rose by 0.2% m/m in July. This marks the first time that advertised salary growth has been below 0.3% in two consecutive months since 2021.
Annual advertised salary growth has slowed over recent months to 3.3%, the slowest annual growth since August 2021.
STATE ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS
Advertised salary growth in the Northern Territory has continued to outpace the rest of the country, with annual growth of 5.0% despite slowing in July.
Victoria had the slowest advertised salary growth over the three months to July at 0.5%, contributing to a 1.3ppt decline in annual advertised salary growth over the year to July.
INDUSTRY ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS
Annual advertised salary growth for Legal roles has slowed by 0.9ppt since January but remained the fastest y/y (6.9%).
One of the few industries to record an acceleration in annual advertised salary growth was Insurance & Superannuation (5.9%) which also experienced some of the fastest growth over the past quarter (1.9%).
SEEK Senior Economist, Dr Blair Chapman says:
“Advertised salary growth has slowed to 3.3% year-ended, with monthly growth in July the slowest since late 2021.”
“This likely reflects the ongoing easing in labour market tightness, with employment growth 0.5ppt slower over the 12 months to June 2025 than it was to June 2024 and less people switching jobs.”
“Despite this, advertised salaries are still growing faster than living costs for employee households, which slowed to 2.6% y/y in the June quarter. A notable decline in mortgage interest charges, following the RBA’s cash rate cuts this year, mostly offset rises in other prices in the latest data.”
National Advertised Salary Trends
Advertised salaries rose by 0.2% m/m in July following similar growth in June, marking the first time that advertised salary growth has been under 0.3% in two consecutive months since 2021.
Figure 1: Month-on-month growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index
Note: seasonally adjusted. Source: SEEK.
Following eight months of steady annual growth between 3.6% and 3.7%, annual growth has now slipped 0.3ppt in two months to be 3.3%.
Figure 2: Year-on-year growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index
Note: seasonally adjusted. Source: SEEK.
State Advertised Salary Trends
Advertised salary growth has accelerated in the Northern Territory over the past year from 3.5% y/y to 5.0% y/y, The average monthly growth over the first six months of 2025 of 0.5% m/m was four times faster than over the same period of 2024.
Since October, advertised salary growth has been accelerating in Western Australia, with m/m growth averaging 0.3%. Over this period, annual advertised salary growth has risen from 2.9% y/y to 3.6% y/y. The population is continuing to grow relatively fast in Western Australia, supporting economic activity and labour demand.
Despite relatively fast employment growth over the past year, advertised salary growth in Victoria has fallen by 1.3ppt to 2.9%. Only Tasmania has experienced slower annual advertised salary growth (2.0%).
In trend terms, advertised salary growth in the Australian Capital Territory has been steady and robust for some time, sitting between 0.2% m/m and 0.4% m/m since February 2022. As a result, trend annual advertised salary growth has sat at 3.7% or above since the start of 2023 in the ACT.
Table 1: SEEK Advertised Salary Index growth by state/territory
Note: seasonally adjusted. Source: SEEK.
Figure 3: Year-on-year growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index by state/territory
Note: seasonally adjusted. Source: SEEK.
Industry Advertised Salary Trends
Advertised salary growth in the Legal industry peaked earlier this year at 7.8% y/y and despite having slowed by 0.9 ppt since then, it remains the industry with the fastest advertised salary growth.
Following relatively fast growth over the past quarter, annual advertised salaries in the Insurance & Superannuation industry grew at the second fastest rate in July, at 5.9%. There has been a notable acceleration in advertised salaries in the industry since August last year when annual growth was only 1.7%.
Despite declining over the three months to July, advertised salary growth for Consulting & Strategy has been faster than most industries over the year to July (5.7%). Large declines in advertised salaries for the industry, which were seen at the beginning of 2024, have been replaced by more modest declines this year.
The Sport & Recreation industry has experienced relatively fast advertised salary growth over the year to July, likely reflecting a surge in demand for workers in the industry over recent months relative to the same time last year.
Engineering has experienced some of the weakest annual advertised salary growth, with advertised salaries declining over the three months to July. This reflects weak demand in the industry with job ads notably down on July last year. Labour demand has declined notably in Queensland and Western Australia where the generally high-paying mining industry employs a lot of engineers. Similarly, the Science & Technology industry has experienced relatively weak salary growth alongside a decline in demand over the past year.
Table 2: SEEK Advertised Salary Index growth by industry
ENDS
The full data for this report can be found here.
NOTES
When reporting SEEK data, we request that you attribute SEEK as the source and refer to SEEK as an employment marketplace.
Commentary relating to the SEEK ASI can be attributed to Dr Blair Chapman, SEEK Senior Economist.
About the SEEK ASI
The SEEK ASI measures the change in advertised salaries over time for jobs posted on SEEK in Australia, removing much of the effect of compositional change.
The SEEK ASI is a complement to existing data about the growth in wages and salaries in Australia, including the ABS’ WPI. The WPI is a measure of the pace of wages growth across the economy.
The SEEK ASI provides a timely and frequent read on the pulse of advertised salary growth in Australia for vacant roles.