Legal Jobs Wages in 2008 and forecast for 2009
Thursday April 16, 2009
The legal industry and legal jobs wages in Australia for 2008 recorded quite strong growth with a significant rise experienced in the last three months of the year. In fact, the official average legal jobs wages was $78,602, which is an improvement on $71,000 from June 2008.
The top five legal jobs with the highest wages recorded in 2008 were:
Sub-Sector
- Partnership & Management - $173,476
- Corporate Law / Mergers & Acquisitions - $131,738
- Solicitor - $112,753
- Financial Services - $112,208
- Commercial Law - $103,927
The legal jobs wages forecast for 2009 is less optimistic that this rising trend will continue for the legal industry on the whole. Industry experts have predicted that 2009 will see a major skill shortage qualified people for specialized legal jobs. This may result in professionals within the legal industry with several years experience finding themselves in great demand and able to demand higher wages. In fact, wages trend experts predict that experienced legal professional will see a wages increase of 7-15 percent in private practice and up to 10 percent in the public legal forum.
While these are fairly substantial percentage predictions, it is dependent on the expected skill shortage that the legal industry will face over 2009 whereby there will be a limited number of qualified people for these legal jobs, creating a competitive wages market.
Legal jobs that will be in particular demand and that can expect higher than average legal jobs wages will be those within the property, resources, energy and construction sectors.