More than one in four engineering and construction professionals across Australia failed to secure an increase in pay over the past twelve months, new data suggests.

And only one in three secured increases of five per cent or more.

Specialist recruitment and workforce solutions firm Hays has released the 2026/27 edition of its Hays Salary Guide.

The guide is based on an online survey or more than 7,000 professionals and those in hiring roles across Australia and New Zealand.

Overall, the report indicates that a number of engineering and construction (E&C) professionals have not been able to secure meaningful pay increases.

Indeed, as many as 28 per cent of E&C professionals who responded to the survey did not receive any increase at all over the past twelve months.

A further 12 per cent received increases of less than 2.5 per cent whilst 24 per cent received increases of between 2.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent.

All up, this means that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) either did not receive any increase or received increases of less than five per cent.

With annual inflation running at 4.2 per cent, this means that many E&C professionals failed to achieve any real (above-inflation) increases in salaries over the past year.

In other survey findings, across the E&C sector:

• Pay expectations are reasonably strong for 2026/27. Engineering organisations anticipate stronger-than-average growth in remuneration over the next 12 months. Overall, engineering based organisations expect to pay an average 4.5 per cent increase in salaries in 2026/27. This exceeds the national average expectation of 3.8 per cent across all disciplines. Construction organisations are more cautious, anticipating a 3.9 per cent increase.
• AI concern remains low. Only 18 per cent of E&C professionals are concerned about the potential impact of AI upon employment opportunities. This is below the national average of 30 per cent.
• Career movement is active, but promotions are limited. More than one in five (21 per cent) E&C professionals changed employers in the past 12 months, while 12 per cent changed responsibilities. However, only 10 per cent received a promotion.
• Upskilling remains a priority: Across both sectors, 21 per cent of professionals are considering further education or certification in the next 12 months, while others are looking to expand their services or offerings. This suggests that workers are focused on strengthening their long-term career position.
• Engineering leads the market on skills shortages: Engineering organisations report the highest skills shortage pressure of any sector (93 per cent), while construction sits slightly above average (83 per cent). According to the report, this reinforces the need for employers to focus on workforce planning, retention and skills development.

(image source: Hays Salary Guide 2025/26)

(image source: Hays Salary Guide 2025/26)

Acute shortages in some areas, floods of candidates in others

The report comes as the market for engineering and construction professionals appears to have stabilised after bottoming out in the July to September quarter last year.

Since bottoming out at 5,334 last August, the seasonally adjusted number of job vacancies for construction, production and distribution managers reached 5,891 in April.

Over that same period, seasonally adjusted engineering vacancies rose from 4,189 to 4,733.

Speaking about overall market conditions, Austin Blackburne, Technical Director, ANZ at Hays, says that hiring and vacancy activity has stabilised after a softer period.

Overall, he says that the market is holding steady as opposed to growing rapidly.

But he says that are ‘pockets’ of the market where activity is running hot and certain skilled areas which are under resourced.

Turning to remuneration outcomes, Blackburne describes the overall E&C market as a ‘broad church’.

In general construction, he says that the rate of increase is mostly being determined by enterprise bargaining agreements.

Beyond this, outcomes differ across locations, sectors and disciplines.

In Queensland, for example, salaries for construction management roles are surging ahead as work ramps up on Olympic building projects.

This is occurring as the state has a shortage of up to 50,000 workers across engineering, project management and trade roles.

Meanwhile, those in building services disciplines who have the skills to work on data centre projects are in extremely short supply.

This includes building services and mechanical and electrical engineering. It also extends to those involved in the supply and manufacture of items and equipment which go into these facilities (hoses, valves, heat rejection systems etc.)

On the other hand, a large number of candidates are being released back onto the market in states such as Victoria as large transport projects finish up.

According to Blackburne, this creates a contradiction where acute shortages are driving up salaries in some parts of the market at the same time as candidates face greater competition elsewhere.

It helps to explain why some E&C professionals are not able to secure substantial pay rises even as the market remains tight in specific areas.

“I ‘d say salary growth is relatively modest on the whole,” Blackburne said.

“It’s sitting at 3.8 per cent. It’s not aggressive salary growth in our sector.

“And then you’ve got 42 per cent of professionals seeing little or no increase (2.5 per cent or less). That’s more to do with some projects coming off and offshoring.

“It’s a broad church.

“(On the positive side,) There’s no question that the upcoming 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games is putting pressure on that market. We’re seeing estimates that up to 50,000 workers are needed in engineering, project management and trades across Queensland …

“… As we do the data every year (the Hays Salary Guide), you see the standouts. You see the roles like construction management in Queensland where you are starting to see wages accelerate out of the pack.

“Those standout pockets of real demand increase the median (salary increase across the sector).

“The other big one is that building services segment. The exponential growth in data centres is really putting those building service engineering type of roles under pressure …

“ … So that’s a key driver. It’s probably the silent wave that’s pushing wages.

“But you’ve also got a lot of projects coming off. And they’re flooding the market with candidates.

“You’ve got these big economies such as Victoria and New South Wales, where they’ve had big transport infrastructure projects which have led the demand.

“They’re now coming off. Not all, but a lot of them are coming off.

“And they are flooding the market with candidates who will either say, ‘I’ll just take a little more or even less than what I was on’, or’ I have to move. I’m going to move to Queensland.’

“That’s a big call, to take your kids and move to Queensland.

“So if you don’t want to move, what do you do? You will probably lower your expectations in terms of salary.”

(In Melbourne, many engineering and construction candidates are coming onto the market as major road projects wind up. (Image: AI generated via freepix)

Success strategies

Asked about strategies which can be adopted to achieve optimal outcomes, Blackburne suggests several actions.

For candidates, these include:

• Being flexible and open to mobility and to gaining exposure to segments of the market which are likely to be candidate short. A mechanical engineer, for example, may consider moving to projects on which they will gain exposure to data centres.
• Being data informed and having realistic salary expectations which are based on reliable benchmarks.
• Looking beyond headline salaries and considering the entire package that is on offer. This might include flexible working arrangements (important for those with children) along with exposure to types of projects for which candidates are highly sought after.
• Developing AI literacy and fluency and maximising your potential worth to employers by learning how to effectively leverage AI to improve design and productivity.

For employers, strategies include:

• Broadening their offer beyond salaries to also include training, career development and career progression.
• Prioritising ‘high-impact’ roles which the firm is likely to require over coming years and where industry shortages are likely to occur.

In relation to the last point, this involves consideration of the firm’s long-term strategy including the sectors upon which it intends to focus.

From there, employers can identify areas in which skills shortages are likely to be prevalent and focus on these when considering hiring and remuneration strategies.

This runs counter-intuitive to the traditional practice of simply offering across the board salary increase.

“In he past, you would have simply done a salary increase across the board,” Blackburne said.

“You can’t think like that now.

“If you have a broad church (across the industry) and you know that there are certain areas where there are acute shortages, you’ve got to prioritise these roles.

“You’ve got to look at your overall bottom line and benchmark where you’re going to be in three or four years in some of those hot segments that you want to enter.

“Not all trades and engineers are equal. There are some over the next five years that will be in massive demand.

“So you’ve got to look at your overall offering on that basis.”

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