ACIRRT, University of Sydney: Trends in academic salaries 

Orfeus research was commissioned by ACIRRT (Australian centre for industrial relations research and training) to examine changes in Australian academic salary relativities over the past 25 years (1977-2002). The report (co-authored with Marc Lombard from Macquarie University) 'Academic arthritis revisited: An examination of academic salary relativities in Australia, 1977 - 2002', updates and extends an earlier study published by the same authors in 1991 ('The Decline of Australian Educational Salaries' Australian Bulletin of Labour, 17(1), pp.76-95).

The key findings of the study included:

• Academic salaries have continued to decline relative to average weekly earnings in the 25-year period from 1977 to 2002
• The decline in academic salaries relative to average earnings suggests that the relative decline for senior academic levels has been greater in the period 1977 to 2002 compared to the decline for lower level positions
• Comparing changes in academic salaries to movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between 1977 and 2002 shows that only the Associate Lecturer level experienced the same magnitude of growth as the CPI, and is therefore the only academic level to have kept pace with inflation over the last 25 years. In other words, academic salaries, especially at the more senior levels have declined in real terms since 1977.