Salaries in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector increased a modest 2.7% in the past twelve months, a full 2% below the ABS national average weekly earnings data for the corresponding period. Women fared better than their male colleagues, with full-time earnings up 2.3% compared to only 1% overall for men. As has been the case in earlier Surveys, more males (34.6%) than females (15.3%) earned salaries in excess of $80,000. 79.7% of employment is full-time, up 10.6% from 2009 while 59.1% of part-time employees work more than 1 job, more than doubling from the 28% recorded in 2009.

Key findings of the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey include:

• Melbourne (30.4%) and Sydney (22.1%) lead the nation as the hot spots for jobs in sport, fitness and aquatics.
• 79.7% of respondents were employed on a permanent full-time basis in 2010 up from 69.1% in 2009 and up from 77% in 2008.
• 59.1% of part-time employees work more than one job, up from 28% in 2009, with some working as many as six different employers. The average number of jobs held by all part-time employees was 1.8.
• Almost one third (31.2%) of female respondents work part-time compared with only 11.7% of male respondents. This is a decrease from 2009 where 42.9% of females and 16.3% of males were working part-time.
• The mean full-time base salary for the sport, fitness and aquatic sector (combined) is $69,646, an increase of 2.7% from 2009.
• The mean full-time base salary in the sport sector was $72,041. The mean full-time base salary in fitness was $57,119 and for aquatics $63,667.
• The mean full-time base salary for males is $75,612, an increase of 1% from 2009. For females the mean full-time base salary was $61,243, up 2.3% from 2009.
• The mean base hourly rate of pay for both males and females is between $28-$32, with 42.1% of females earning more than $30 per hour compared to males (29.1%).

According to Sportspeople’s Managing Director, Robert McMurtrie these results indicate the sport, fitness and aquatic sector is recovering, albeit slowly, from the economic downturn of 2009. 

“Generally speaking, most of the data from our past Surveys has indicated salary levels in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector are reasonably aligned to the national wage growth trends. However, in the past twelve months we’ve seen a very conservative response from the sport, fitness and aquatic sector as it recovers from the economic downturn in 2009; with an overall wage growth of only 2.7%, against the national average weekly earnings growth of 4.7%.” 

“While pay rates also improved in the 2009 Sportspeople Workplace Survey, up 3.6% from 2008, it should be noted the ABS Average Weekly Earnings data (2009) showed a national wage growth of 4.2%. If we look at the 2009 and 2010 data, the sport, fitness and aquatic sector has now fallen behind national wage growth for two consecutive years.”

“If you accept the notion that salaries need to grow at least equal to or more than the CPI, it can be argued that for many people working in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector the last twelve months has been tough going. Wage growth (2.7%) in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector was 0.1% below the published 2.8% increase in the CPI weighted average for the corresponding period.”

“While it is pleasing to see the mean salary for women up 2.3%, their full-time earnings are still not equivalent to their male colleagues. Interestingly, hourly rates in excess of $30 were earned by more females (42.1%) compared to males (29.1%) however, we suspect this is as a result of the high number of women working in the fitness and aquatics sector where an hourly rate of pay is common.” 

“The data also showed specific trends when comparing an International/National, State/Territory or Regional/Community organisation. As expected, salaries are highest in the International/National organisations and lowest in the Regional/Community organisations.”

“We have also been able to create salary profiles for a number of specific roles across the sport, fitness and aquatic sector. What is very obvious from this data is that significant salary variances exist for roles which have the same position title. For example, an Administration Manager in one organisation can earn $200,000 a year while in another only $45,000. This reinforces our long held view that a salary range should be a mandatory inclusion when advertising a position vacant. Terminology such as Attractive Package or Negotiable can be interpreted in many ways by candidates and may, in fact, be counter-productive to the recruitment effort. Sportspeople will be introducing a mandatory salary field at the Sportspeople Jobs Market in 2011, with employers having the option to make the salary public or hidden, assisting candidates better refine their search.”

“The 2003, 2008, 2009 Sportspeople Workplace Surveys and the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey provided us with a snap shot of the sector against which we were able to measure and report changes to each of the survey areas. We plan to continue to undertake specific wage and occupation surveys and are scheduled to conduct the next Sportspeople Salary Survey in 2011 and the Sportspeople Workplace Survey in 2012.” he said. 

About the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey:

1,589 respondents participated in the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey. The 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey is managed by job board operator and recruitment agency Sportspeople and is part of a Series of Sportspeople Surveys undertaken since 2003.

More Information:

Additional information from the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey will be released later while other data will be retained by Sportspeople to assist with client servicing and industry benchmarking. A full copy of the 2010 Sportspeople Salary Survey is now available at the Library section of Sportspeople’s website – click here

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