UPFRONT Money follows skill shortages

Salary trends reflect tight job market with substantial hikes in remuneration packages showing up where skills are known to be in short supply, according to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.
Its annual salary survey found that occupations enjoying higher than average increases included staff tasked with boosting productivity, project personnel, construction managers and human resources practitioners. In the productive sector, the gap between incomes for skilled and unskilled staff widened by around 30 percent.
Where base salaries have remained relatively stable, increases in other components of remuneration package have jumped – with the ratio for commission to retainer for some sales people jumping from three percent to as much as 30 percent. The survey found that salary packages for CEOs, general and branch managers had scarcely changed.