Roussos Recruitment’s recent survey of 700 leaders across the state’s property, construction, engineering and architecture sectors showed businesses struggling to retain and attract new talent have been forced to stretch their salary offerings in the past six to eight months.

“Over the past couple of months, there has been a shift in attitude towards salaries, and businesses are being more realistic about paying salaries that are more sustainable long term,” company founder and director Anna Roussos said.

And as cost of living pressures continue to increase, Roussos was confident that salaries that are now more consistent across the sector would not slide backwards.

“Most salary increases over the past six to 12 months have been a result of businesses realigning what they are paying their employees – and because of this, salary is starting to become less of a factor as to why people are moving jobs in this market,” Roussos said.

She added that architects and engineers with five to eight years of experience were particularly sought after by companies who were having to pay higher salaries to graduates and less experienced staff now working on larger projects. However, there was strong demand for recruiting staff overall.

“In the past 12 months our business has had over 60 per cent more roles registered to fill in this sector,” Roussos said.

“On the flip side, we have had 25 per cent to 30 per cent less talent registered so the gap has really widened.”

The survey also found the majority of respondents were highly positive about the outlook of the market over the next 12 months.

Earlier in the year, more staff were being hired as businesses won new work and tendered for new projects, the survey showed there was a particular surge in demand at that time for marketing and submissions roles along with estimators.

“The recovery in the South Australian hiring market reflects a strong economic rebound from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Roussos said.

“Skills shortage and labour has always been an issue in South Australia, it’s not something new, it has just become bigger, with increased demand igniting an issue that has always been there.”

The survey of South Australian organisations focused on a sector worth about $12 billion combined to the state’s economy according to the Property Council of Australia, with demand for commercial construction and infrastructure works behind the trend.

Survey findings follow an industry roundtable held earlier this month that found South Australia’s building industry will need another 10,000 construction workers in the next five years, despite already struggling to fill jobs.

Building companies and construction industry bodies were among more than 25 key representatives to join the roundtable with Small and Family Business Minister Andrea Michaels.

Businesses across the state continue to be impacted by labour shortages, as the number of South Australians now employed in construction is 8.7 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels in March 2020.

Roussos said organisations across the wider property and construction industry are also continuing to deal with the rising cost of materials and equipment.

Businesses experiencing higher turnover were seeing profits impacted by also having to pay higher salaries along with construction and building materials costs, she said.