Insurance professionals can expect a moderate salary increase this year, according to recruitment agency Hays.

It says 43% of financial services employers surveyed intend to increase salaries between 3-6% when they next review them. Last year, 51% of the employers increased salaries by the same amount.

A further 5% of employers will increase salaries above 6%. But 42% intend to increase salaries less than 3% and 10% do not intend to offer increases.

The figures are based on a survey of over 1500 employers.

Hays Insurance Director Jane McNeill says Australia’s insurance market continues to defy the uncertainty in the broader financial services sector.

“Over the past 12 months we continued to witness extreme skills shortages across most technical insurance areas,” she said. “But we also started to see some salary increases at a higher level than was seen in previous years.

“The most significant increases have been in general insurance underwriting, for underwriting support roles right through to senior underwriting professionals. Underwriters in the life insurance sector have also enjoyed increases.

“The other salary trend of note has been in workers’ compensation where we have seen salary increases across the board, from claims assistants through to senior managers and case managers.”

Ms McNeill says this is an encouraging trend for the industry’s efforts to attract future candidates.

“We have seen an increase in the number of employers willing to up-skill and cross-skill candidates who are a good fit with the organisation but require additional technical training.”