Wages and Conditions

There are over 36,000 people employed in the not-for-profit non-government human services industry in WA. The average staff turnover in the sector is significantly higher than the average for all Australian industries, at 23% per annum. 68% of agencies have reported difficulties finding and keeping staff and 66% of agencies have reported an increasing reliance on unpaid labour, both from volunteers and employees.

A shortage of staff is resulting in longer periods of vacancies and subsequently, increased numbers of people being turned away from services to due a lack of capacity to deliver. It is also reducing the capacity of the sector to provide long term contracts, reducing the security of jobs in the sector, and to invest in professional development training for existing staff.

The difficulty in attracting and retaining staff is due to the inadequacy of wages in the community services sector. For example, significant gaps of between 15% and 37% exist between the remuneration of social workers in the public and community sectors. Social workers are not an isolated case; workers in the community service sector are fundamentally undervalued, and this undervaluation is most obvious when their wages are compared with those of workers in the public sector.

A recent examination of wages in the alcohol and other drugs, family and domestic violence, mental health and women’s health sectors shows that the pay disparity for similar positions in their areas of the community services sector can be up to $22 000. The same study found that 85% of employees in the drug and alcohol, domestic violence and women’s health fields have post-school qualifications. Of these, only 4% earn more than the average weekly wage.

Employees in the community services sector receive lower wages for work of equal or comparable value to that performed in other sectors, particularly the public sector. ABS data confirms the undervaluation of employees in the sector: health and welfare associate professionals earn $260 less per week than the average for all associate professionals¹. Employees in the same occupation class (such as associate professionals) are likely to have a similar level of qualifications and skill.

This undervaluation is chronic, long-standing and indefensible. Governments do not fund community service organisations based on the true cost of delivering services. Wages in the sector need to catch up with those in the public sector. The shortfall between wages in the community services sector and the public sector is approximately 30%.

Recommendation:

A 30% increase on current funding to contracted service providers in the community sector to provide an immediate increase in wages for staff, and maintain the current policy on indexation for future years.

Cost:

$150.3million

Download the fact sheet here

¹Derived from ABS, Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership - Mean Weekly Earnings in Main Job – TABLE 6. Mean weekly earnings in main job by full-time/part-time status in main job, sex, occupation major/sub-major group (ASCO), 1997–2007.