Salaries in the Australian fitness sector remained steady over the last 12 months, decreasing less than 0.2%, compared with an decrease of 3.5% overall for the combined sport, fitness and aquatic sector and a 4.9% increase in the ABS national average weekly earnings data for the corresponding period. While salaries in the fitness sector overall has remained steady, the gender gap has widened significantly. In 2010 males in the fitness sector earned on average 10.6% more than females, whereas in 2011 this has increased to males earning a massive 23.7% more. As has been the case in earlier Surveys, more males (22.8%) than females (11.1%) earned salaries in excess of $80,000. 55% of employment is full-time, down from 69% from 2010 while 52.7% of part-time employees work more than 1 job, down from 59.1% recorded in 2010. While full-time salaries remained steady, part-time hourly rates increased 6.8%.

Key findings of the 2011 Sportspeople Salary Survey include:

• Sydney (23.6%) and Melbourne (20.9%) lead the nation as the hot spots for jobs in fitness.
• 55% of respondents were employed on a permanent full-time basis in 2011 down from 69% in 2010.
• 52.7% of part-time employees work more than one job, down from 59.1% in 2010, with some working as many as seven different employers. The average number of jobs held by all part-time employees was 2.1, up from 1.8 in 2010.
• More than half (57.9%) of female respondents work part-time down from almost two-thirds (63%) of females in 2010. Only 28.4% of male respondents worked part-time, similar to the 29% of males in 2010. This is a significant contrast to the sport sector where only 17% of females and 8% of males work part time.
• The mean full-time salary for males was $62,275, up 4.4% from 2010. For females the mean full-time salary was $50,325, down 7% from 2010 (this follows a decrease of 11% for females from 2009).
• The mean hourly rate of pay for both males and females is between $32-$34, up 10% for females and 5.4% for males. 51% of females working part time earn more than $30 per hour compared to males (38.9%).
• The mean full-time salary for the fitness sector is $56,959, a decrease of 0.2% from 2010.
• The mean full-time salary in the sport sector was $70,897 and for aquatics $65,932. The mean full-time salary for the sport, fitness and aquatic sectors (combined) is $67,266.

According to Sportspeople these results may indicate the fitness sector may still be struggling to recover from the economic downturn of 2009 or possibly approaching a full supply of candidates. “Given the nature of our recruitment and service activities, our surveys generally include the combined sub-sectors of sport, fitness and aquatics. Most of the data from our past surveys has indicated salary levels in sport, fitness and aquatics are reasonably aligned to the national wage growth trends.

However in the past three years we have seen this sector increasingly fall behind in the recovery from the economic downturn in 2009.”

“In 2010 we saw salaries in the fitness sector fall 9%, and in the past twelve months we’ve seen the sport and aquatic sector follow suit with the first overall decrease in wages since we first started surveying the sector in 2003. While the national average weekly earnings grew 4.9% in 2011, we saw earnings in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector actually fall 3.5%.”

“The reasons for this might be many; however salaries usually decline in an oversupplied market where employers have increased choice and therefore less pressure on wages. Anecdotally, we understand Fitness Training Providers have adopted more mainstream advertising methods, possibly resulting in improved supply of trained, qualified candidates. Overall, this supply is a good thing for the sector and of course the paying customer, with wage growth inevitable and senior, experienced staff still in demand.”

“If you accept the notion that salaries need to grow at least equal to or more than the CPI, it can be argued that for many people working in the fitness sector the last twelve months has been tough going. With wages remaining steady in the fitness sector, this is a vast contrast to the published 4.9% increase in the CPI weighted average (all groups) for the corresponding period. If we look at the 2009, 2010 and 2011 data, the sport, fitness and aquatic sector has now fallen behind national wage growth for three consecutive years.”

The Sportspeople Salary Surveys provided us with a snap shot of the sector against which we were able to measure and report changes to each of the survey areas. We plan to continue to undertake specific wage and occupation surveys and are scheduled to conduct the next Sportspeople Salary Survey in 2013 and the Sportspeople Workplace Survey in 2012.” she said.

AL - Sportspeople Recruitment
First Published 2012

About the 2011 Sportspeople Salary Survey:

1,108 respondents participated in the 2011 Sportspeople Salary Survey. The 2011 Sportspeople Salary Survey is managed by job board operator and recruitment agency Sportspeople and is part of a Series of Sportspeople Surveys undertaken since 2003.