Considering a career change? With money top of mind for many Aussies right now, you might be curious about which industries offer better pay and whether you should make the leap in 2024.

Aussie employees are currently earning $1,300, on average, per week, the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for August 2023 has found. This includes full-time and other employees.

But, in some more lucrative industries, employees are earning more than $1,000 more per week compared to the average.

Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com

Mining was Australia’s highest-paid industry, the ABS found, with the average worker earning $2,504 per week.

The second-most-lucrative industry was electricity, gas, water and waste services, with utility workers earning $1,900 per week, on average. Rounding out the top three were workers in financial and insurance services, at $1,750 per week.

RELATED

• $150k a year: High-paying Aussie jobs that don’t require a degree

• Jobs where salaries are rising the fastest

• Surprising jobs with $150,000 salaries

Drilling deeper, the ABS found CEOs, general managers and legislators were the highest-paid sub-occupation group ($2,652 per week), followed by specialist managers ($2,301) and information and communications technology professionals ($2,205).

The lowest-paid occupations were food-preparation assistants ($383 per week), sales support workers ($533 per week) and hospitality workers ($575 per week).

Highest-paid industries

Here are the top 10 industries with the highest median weekly earnings:

1. Mining - $2,403

2. Electricity, gas, water and waste services - $1,900

3. Financial and insurance services - $1,750

4. Professional, scientific and technical services - $1,726

5. Public administration and safety - $1,650

6. Information, media and telecommunications - $1,630

7. Construction - $1,473

8. Transport, postal and warehousing - $1,400

9. Manufacturing - $1,400

10. Wholesale trade - $1,346

Salary growth up, but job ads down

The latest data from SEEK found advertised salaries were up 4.6 per cent over the year to November, the same growth recorded in October.

Month on month, salaries ticked up slightly from 0.3 per cent in October to 0.4 per cent growth in November.

While salary growth is up, the number of new jobs available saw a dip in November, declining 4.3 per cent in the month. At the same time, more applicants are vying for jobs. The number of applicants per job rose 2.9 per cent, month on month.

SEEK ANZ managing director Kendra Banks said job ads had moderated since peaking mid-last year, but were still above pre-pandemic levels.