HEMISPHERE MIGRATION NEWS

On Monday the 11^th of March the Department of Home Affairs updated the Skilled Occupations Lists and the associated caveats for the TSS 482 Visa program.

Within a number of changes to the program was a reduction of minimum annual salary required for a Recruitment Consultant to be sponsored under the TSS 482 visa program. From Monday the 11^th of March 2019 a Recruitment Consultant may now be paid an annual salary of $80,000 AUD.

This change brings the required minimum salary down from the figure of $90,000 that was imposed in December 2017 by the Department of Home Affairs who earlier considered the complete abolishment of the Recruitment Consultant job title from all Sponsorable Occupations lists. That decision brought considerable lobbying from the sector and The Department of Home Affairs maintained the Job Title of Recruiter on their Skilled Occupations lists but installed the caveat of a minimum annual salary of $90,000.

As expected, the Recruitment sector lobbied the Department of Home Affairs and argued against the rationale behind an increase of $25,000 per annum from the previous minimum of $65,000 prior to December 2017. The Recruitment Industry continued to provide sponsorship opportunities to exceptional overseas applicants during 2018 however the industry clearly felt that paying $90,000 annual salary was prohibitive for lesser experienced candidates.

The minimum salary of $80,000 viewed in the context of a reduction from $90,000 annual salary is of course positive however when assessing base salaries of Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents evidence suggests that their base salaries are much lower. PayScale Australia provide an average Annual salary for a recruitment consultant at $55,533 whilst indeed.com state an average of $72,405 from a sample of over 2000 advertisements on their site placed during the last 36 months.

Live data from Job Board Adzuna shows a skewed average of $95,000 annual salary for Recruitment Consultants however according to Adzuna CEO Raif Watson, of the 2500 live advertisements on the site advertising jobs for Recruitment Consultants only 400 list salaries.

Further to this the Adzuna background Analytics show a significant increase of 7% from October 2018 onwards which is precisely the time when it was mandated by the Department of Home Affairs that advertisements for Recruitment Consultants should carry a publicised salary (minimum of $90,000).

Mr. Watson also noted that historically only 20% of Job advertisements in Australia have carried published salaries compared to 80% carrying published salaries in The United Kingdom.

Leading Job site Seek.com.au provide the last word in the argument over the average annual salary of Recruitment Consultants. The Seek July 2017 – June 2018 Salary Report quotes the role of Recruitment Consultant having an average annual salary of $70,920.

The fact that Seek hold a commanding market share in Australia and that these numbers are not skewed by the Home Affairs mandated advertising of $90,000 from September 2018 lends considerable weight to the assertion that the average annual salary for Recruitment Consultants being approximately $70,000.

Whilst Sponsored Recruitment Consultant applicants continue to be paid more than their Australian citizen counterparts the reduction to $80,000 minimum annual salary brings a hint of parity to the argument.