Australia’s retail sector salary growth falls behind the overall growth in Australian salaries, according to the May quarterly MyCareer Employment Forecast.
The Forecast found salary growth for the retail sector was 0.7 per cent for the quarter in comparison to overall salary growth in Australian of 4.1 per cent. In fact, salaries growth in this sector has fallen behind the Australian average for the last two and half years.
According to the forecast, Australian households have gone from spending more than they earn to saving nearly 10 per cent of household income and over the last three years have saved over $200 billion. Also, consumers are also paying off their mortgages at a higher rate than they have before.
The strong Australian dollar has also taken an affect on the retail employment sector. With the strong exchange rate more Australians are taking up online shopping on overseas sites rather than at local stores.
As expected, the stand out growth area was in the Mining industry accounting for 61 per cent of national jobs growth.
The Forecast also found there’s been a growth in the Twilight segment – the fastest growing segment group numbering 506,000 workers. The Twilight segment is classified as where 63-year-olds and older who are looking for ways to top up their depleted super funds or want to keep busy after traditional retirement age.