Advertised salaries posted on Australian job platform Seek slowed to 3.9% in August, down from 4.2% in July, according to the Seek Advertised Salary Index.

The drop in advertised salaries for August marks the slowest month-over-month rate in more than two years, the company said.

However, the quarterly salary measure — from May 2024 to August 2024 — increased by 0.9%.
“The rate of advertised salary growth has been broadly declining for the past 11 months, but the slowdown was more pronounced in August,” Leigh Broderick, Seek’s head of employment analytics, said in a statement on 26 September. 

“Month-on-month advertised salaries grew just 0.2%, which is the slowest monthly growth rate since mid-2022,” he added.
 
“Pay rises that came into effect in the new financial year likely bolstered the growth rate of salaries in July, so this month’s figures possibly present a truer reflection of the current market.”

Despite the slowdown in advertised salaries, the index continues to outpace the country’s monthly inflation rate, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The ABS said in a statement on 25 September that the Consumer Price Index indicator rose 2.7% in the 12 months to August 2024, down from 3.5% in July and the lowest reading since August 2021.

CPI is a measure of inflation that includes statistics about prices for categories of household expenditure, such as petrol, electricity, grocery products and beverages.