Para planners are being offered salaries up to $90,000 as the war for talent intensifies.
Wages are spiralling as demand for planning staff continues at extremely high levels, according to fresh data from planner recruitment firm eJobs.
Advertised industry jobs in Brisbane and regional Queensland in the 12 months to August 31 showed the state had the second highest demand for planning staff with 26.4 per cent of all jobs.
The last six months broke all previous records for the number of jobs advertised.
Ninety-eight per cent of paraplanner roles in Queensland required prior experience and most employers offered $50-70K.
"Even at $50K it was hard to find [paraplanning] staff," ejobs managing director Trevor Punnett said.
"One role, asking for 12 months experience and Xplan, was re-advertised several times over a long period, suggesting no takers," he said.
"Other roles simply asked for [industry qualification] PS146 and offered salaries up to $90K for the same criteria."
Software requirements were split evenly between Visipan, Xplan and Coin.
New South Wales is still the market leader, accounting for 37 per cent of jobs. Victoria has 22.8 per cent of the market and Western Australia has 8.1 per cent.
BankWest's aggressive expansion into the eastern states and AMP and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's new regional paraplanning hubs will put more pressure on the market, Punnett said.
"With deeper pockets, these and other institutions will continue to provide tough competition for practices often looking to recruit from the same talent pool," he said.
Punnett said recruiters are anticipating a slight drop in job numbers relative to those leading up to the June 30 superannuation deadline frenzy.
But demand continues to outstrip supply.
Punnett said 60 planning jobs are advertised on employment website Seek everyday but there are not enough candidates to fill them.
He said higher salaries meant more pressure on advisers to bring in higher revenue or face pay cuts.
"There were many [adviser] salaries over $90K on offer. Paying someone a $100K salary would require them to bring in 2.5 to 3 times this amount," he said.
