Are Australians searching for a pay rise?

This article was sponsored by Google Trends.

Are Australians searching for better pay, or are they just trying to understand what is happening to wages? Google Trends data suggests that in 2026, interest in pay rises typically spikes after specific events such as changes to minimum wages or widely publicised EBA negotiation.

Over the past year, while “pay rise” and “salary review” generated almost identical average search interest, the search patterns were different. Searches for salary reviews were relatively steady, but searches for “pay rise” spiked sharply in May and June, and then again in August.

This timing makes sense in light of the Fair Work Commission’s 2026 Annual Wage Review decision in early June 2026, which increased the minimum wage award by 4.75 per cent and was implemented at the start of July 2026.

This suggests people are not simply searching for higher salaries in general. They are looking for information about specific pay rises, how much they’re worth, when they will take effect and who will benefit.

What does a pay rise mean for you?

Other Google Trends data supports this trend. Spikes in searches for pay rises for teachers and nurses in Victoria and New South Wales aligned with negotiations for enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) in those states during 2026. Between May and August 2026, Victorian teachers were negotiating a new enterprise agreement, while NSW nurses received a major pay ruling in April, followed by backpay payments in May. The timing suggests that some searches may have been prompted by these developments, although Google Trends cannot establish what motivated individual searches.

Workers covered by enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) can need quite different information from that sought by a person negotiating an individual salary. A nurse whose union is negotiating an EBA might want to know about negotiations in other jurisdictions or even other professions, to get a sense of whether her union is asking for something reasonable. Someone negotiating a CEO package, however, needs to understand the total remuneration package for comparable roles in their sector and, more importantly, how this compares to organisations with a similar size and budget to their own.

The contrast between “pay rise” and “salary review” might be useful here. A salary review is often part of a regular employment process and can be governed by EBAs or awards. A person searching for pay-rise information, on the other hand could be looking for specific information about their own salary and wanting a baseline for negotiation.

Google Trends cannot tell us whether people are dissatisfied with their pay or actually negotiating an increase, but it can show when interest in these issues rises.

Why reliable salary data matters

As we have explored in this series, general trends can be useful if you want a broad picture of what is happening to wages. But if you are preparing to negotiate a salary, those general trends can be misleading. Pay varies according to the role, sector, organisation size and budget, as well as the responsibilities and seniority attached to a position. Additionally, base salary, workplace arrangements and total remuneration
package can have significant impact on the total value of the job on offer.

The Pro Bono Australia Salary Survey provides specific benchmarks for not-for-profit organisations. It gives precise and specific information that enables people to compare remuneration packages across positions, organisation size and sectors.

This kind of information is much more useful in assessing whether a particular offer is competitive than a broad wages trend.

Google Trends gives us a snapshot of what people want to know. Turning that interest into a well-informed salary decision requires something more specific: evidence about the work, the total offer, the organisation and the market in which the role sits.