Defence Industry Insights – 11th Edition is now live.
Kinexus surveyed the defence industry workforce in January 2025 and have captured the data and insights in the document.
Some key takeaways, of vital importance to defence industry workers, are summarised in this blog.
National Defence Salary Growth
In the 12 months to January 2025 defence industry salaries have increased by an average of only 1.8%.
This is a decline from the national increase of 3.5% reported in Defence Industry Insights – 10th edition, which surveyed salaries in the 12-month period to January 2024. It is also lower than the Wage Price Index increase of 3.2% recorded in the 12 months to December 2024.
This is the lowest level of average salary increase across the defence industry workforce since 2021 and reflects the subdued business conditions that are evident across the domains and in most geographic locations.
However there are some skill sets where we’ve seen strong salary growth. Examples include software engineers, naval architects, ILS and specialist technicians.
Unfortunately, salary growth for project management and support roles has softened, especially above-the-line.
Average increases by state are show in the map below:
Map 1. Defence industry salary increases across Australia by state.
Industry Career Confidence
After a dip in confidence reported in the 2024 survey, confidence is once again high in defence industry providing a long-term career.
In response to the question, ‘What is your current confidence in defence industry being able to provide you with a long-term career?’ 82% of respondents said they feel very or somewhat confident.
Chart 1. Represents the respondents’ opinion when asked, ‘What is your current confidence in defence industry being able to provide you with a long-term career?’
The Push-Pull of Contracting
The government-wide push to reduce the number of consultants being used continues. The increase in APS has also had an effect in the MSP construct, with funding and/or contracts in some domains being reduced or pulled completely.
The softening of demand for contract roles is reflected in our data on contract rates; 56% of 2025 survey respondents reported that they had not seen the rates on offer change. This is up from 48% 12 months ago.
Despite this, defence industry workers remain interested in contract roles, with 63% somewhat or very likely to seriously consider taking a contract role in the next 12 months.
Chart 2. Represents how interested respondents are in taking contract roles in the future. The respondents were asked, ‘How likely are you to seriously consider taking a contract role in the next 12 months?’
Defence Industry Insights – Eleventh Edition is available now to download for free.
