IAB Report: Adland Talent Shortage May Be Reaching Its Peak

The Australian digital advertising and ad tech industry job vacancy rates have continued to climb, reaching 11.8 per cent, an increase of 2 per cent points higher than in September 2021 when the market was already suffering a severe talent shortage.

Despite this increase, data from the IAB Australia 2022 Industry Talent Report suggests that the job vacancy rate may be close to peaking, with an increasing number of companies reporting no job vacancies.

The Industry Talent Report found that strong market growth, changes in visa rules, lack of new talent entering the market and the arrival of new large local and global players have all contributed to the general talent availability squeeze. The most competitive sector of the market was again for people with 3-5 years’ experience.

Gai Le Roy, IAB Australia CEO commented: “Demand for digital advertising and ad tech talent has again risen to record levels due to a combination of companies being unable to find talent to replace employees who have moved on, and an increasing headcount for many organisations. Although we are starting to see some companies with a zero-vacancy rate, which was rare last year, there are still more than 1,800 open roles that require digital advertising skills. IAB Australia will continue to work with universities to help attract talent, develop appropriate training programs, and provide support through initiatives like the Mentorship program.”

The average salary increase over the last 12 months was 7.6 per cent, with considerable variation across roles and companies. Some organisations reported having to increase their average salary by up to 20 per cent. 80 per cent of organisations are seeking to increase slightly or significantly their number of employees over the next six months, with the balance seeking no change. The use of offshoring reduced in the same period, with 16 per cent of companies intending to increase their use of offshoring compared to 28 per cent in 2021.

From a gender standpoint, the Industry Talent Report found that while there continues to be an even representation across commercial roles, there has been an increase in senior leadership commercial management roles being held by women at 35 per cent, an increase from 26 per cent in 2021. Nearly nine in ten technical and engineering roles continue to be held by men, while research and marketing roles had the highest proportion of female representation (64 per cent and 60 per cent respectively).

The Industry Talent Report also found that most organisations in the Australian digital advertising industry now have formal policies for a wide range of issues. Of these through 2022 there has been an increase in the number of organisations with sexual harassment policies however there has been a slight dip in some other areas including mental health and LGBTQ equality, due to the entry of smaller organisations entering the industry. There was a significant uptick in the number of companies either introducing or planning to introduce sustainability policies and initiatives in 2022.

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