After a downward trend in employment figures through much of this year so far, the latest data from the Employment Hero SME Index has revealed that average employment growth marginally increased by 0.04 per cent from March to April 2023
While all industries saw growth year-on-year, average employment growth rose marginally across most industries month-on-month. SMEs in Healthcare and Community Services grew by 0.2 per cent, Retail, Hospitality and Tourism and; Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics grew by 0.1 per cent, and SMEs in the Science, Information and Communication Technology sectors increased in employment numbers by 0.04 per cent. The only decrease, albeit marginal, was recorded by the Construction and Trade Services sector which declined by 0.03 per cent.
Meanwhile, median hourly wages continued its growth trajectory with a 2.7 per cent recorded in the past month. In April, the median hourly wage for employees working in Australian SMEs was $36.40, which is $0.97 more than March.
Wages grew marginally across all industries, with the greatest rise in science, information and communication technology (2.7 per cent), healthcare and community services (2.6 per cent) and retail, hospitality and tourism (2.2 per cent). SMEs in construction and trade services saw the smallest increase at 0.1 per cent, followed by manufacturing, transport and logistics at 1.8 per cent.
Median hourly rates increased among all age groups month-on-month with under 18 year-olds experiencing the largest increase of 3.2 cent. For 18-24-year-olds and 65+-year-olds, median rates increased by 2.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively, while median rates for 25-64-year-olds increased by 2.2 per cent.
“In April, we saw a return to employment growth month-on-month, albeit small, as median hourly wages rose for a second consecutive month,” Ben Thompson, Co-founder and CEO of Employment Hero, said. “SMEs across all industries saw marginal employment growth from March to April, with the exception of Construction and Trade Services, which declined slightly.
“The ABS’s WPI recorded private sector wages rose 3.8 per cent over the year to March 2023 while our data showed a 7.7 per cent increase for the same period, which means wage growth for SMEs is already outpacing inflation,” Thompson added. “Our most up-to-date data showed a greater jump of 8.1 per cent in April’s year-on-year comparison. If we look at our data and acknowledge the actual increases to earnings over the past 12 months, it holds true that a lot of Australian SMEs have already increased wages.
“It is no doubt a challenging balancing act for many business owners out there, but as wages start to rise again our Government needs to be making decisions on all wages, including non-standard wage components, to tame inflation as much as possible. Seasonally adjusted unemployment grew to 3.7 per cent for March 2023 according to the ABS, as our SME Index also indicated marginal declines in employment growth for the months of February and March. We do run the risk that the marginal growth we’ve seen in April will be lost if wages continue to rise,” Thompson concluded.
