Half of workers may shift to contract roles by 2025

New findings from Talent's "More Than Money Salary Guide 2025" reveal that over half of permanent workers are considering a shift to contract work by 2025.

The report indicates that salaries across key tech and digital roles are stabilising, though they remain robust in areas such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. This is amidst a hiring market that is increasingly favouring employers.

Talent's report presents a comprehensive analysis of salaries and contract rates for key tech positions in 2025, identifying the most sought-after tech skills and offering insights from Talent's Managing Director team and expert recruiters. It examines hiring trends and forecasts across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Key findings include the sustained high demand for cybersecurity and data experts across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Salaries in these sectors continue to rise slightly, though contract rates have generally decreased as companies prefer full-time and permanent hires.

The report draws on data from over 1,900 workers, revealing preferences for working models: 49% favour fully remote work, while 45% favour a hybrid arrangement. A separate poll of over 800 permanent workers found that 54% are open to transitioning to contract roles in 2025, with two-thirds of this group currently seeking such opportunities.

According to the report, 7.5% of Australians are now independent contractors, illustrating a shift in the workforce's composition. In terms of learning and development, Talent's survey finds that 37% of respondents value conferences and workshops highest, followed by in-house training programmes at 28%, online learning subscriptions at 20%, and tuition reimbursement at 15%.

A breakdown of the top skills in demand for 2025 includes artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud architecture, and systems management using Microsoft technologies.

The report details the top salaries for 2025, indicating a slight decrease compared to 2024 figures. Notably, an Enterprise Architect earns AUD $231,000 in 2025 compared to AUD $234,000 in the previous year. Other positions such as Big Data Architect and Cybersecurity Manager also see a relatively stable salary range.

Matthew Munson, Talent Managing Director NSW, commented, "We anticipate that the market will start to pick up again. Looking at top skills right now, cybersecurity is in high demand. As Australia is a wealthy country and a fast adopter of new technologies, it's an attractive target for cyber criminals. The government wants Australia to be "a world leader" in cybersecurity by 2030. State government agencies will have to scale up to address (and get in front of), an increase in frequency and complexity of attacks, and as such, cybersecurity will be an area to watch out for over the next few years."

Simon Yeung, Talent Managing Director VIC, added, "The IT hiring market for 2025 will improve on 2024, which slumped mid-year and has been increasing since then. Many enterprise and mid-large organisations will pursue programs to achieve a data governance maturity uplift, as high-quality high-volume data is increasingly a competitive advantage. Cybersecurity challenges will increase as organisations face increased attacks that are partly AI-driven, while they balance increased demand for IT resources for AI and data."