Salary tables never show the hours. That is convenient for the jobs at the top, because a good share of the Australian pay premium is not a premium on skill — it is a premium on time. Divide one by the other and the ranking changes considerably.
Which Australian jobs pay well without long hours?
ICT business and systems analysts, software developers, database and security specialists, medical imaging professionals and registered nurses all have median full-time pay above $110,000 while averaging 40 to 41 hours a week — against a 43-hour average across the occupations we compared (Jobs and Skills Australia, February 2026).
High pay, ordinary hours
| Occupation | Median | Hours/week | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICT business and systems analysts | $140,200 | 41 | $65.80 |
| Software and applications programmers | $131,900 | 41 | $61.90 |
| Database, systems admin and ICT security | $128,000 | 41 | $60.00 |
| Medical imaging professionals | $122,700 | 40 | $59.00 |
| Computer network professionals | $120,100 | 41 | $56.30 |
| Registered nurses | $114,000 | 41 | $53.50 |
| Intelligence and policy analysts | $113,000 | 41 | $53.00 |
| Social workers | $112,900 | 40 | $54.30 |
| Human resource professionals | $102,400 | 41 | $48.00 |
| Occupational therapists | $99,500 | 40 | $47.80 |
What the top of the pay table actually costs
Now the same data for the highest-paying occupations, with the hours left in:
| Occupation | Median | Hours/week | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other medical practitioners | $260,700 | 46 | $109.00 |
| Construction managers | $195,100 | 47 | $79.80 |
| Crane, hoist and lift operators | $177,400 | 50 | $68.20 |
| Other building and engineering technicians | $153,600 | 52 | $56.80 |
| Structural steel construction workers | $151,300 | 49 | $59.40 |
| Drillers, miners and shot firers | $151,200 | 64 | $45.40 |
| Metal fitters and machinists | $135,500 | 50 | $52.10 |
Look at the last row against the first table. Drillers and miners have a median of $151,200 — $11,000 more than ICT business analysts — and earn $45.40 an hour against $65.80. They are paid 8% more for 56% more time. On an hourly basis the “lower-paid” office job pays 45% better.
The rate that should be on your payslip
Work out your own real hourly rate before you compare any two jobs. Annual base divided by 52, divided by the hours you genuinely work — not the ones in the contract. It is a five-second calculation and it changes how offers look:
- $120,000 over 38 hours is $60.70 an hour.
- $140,000 over 50 hours is $53.80 an hour. The bigger salary is the worse deal.
- $100,000 over 38 hours is $50.60 an hour — and buys back 12 hours a week.
This is also the honest way to compare permanent work against contracting, where the hours are explicit and priced. That comparison is worked through in contractor day rate vs permanent salary.
Where the sane-hours money is
Three clusters do consistently well on pay per hour in Australian data: ICT and data roles, allied health and diagnostics, and analytical public-sector roles. What they share is scarce, credentialed skill sold in a bounded week — the pay premium comes from the scarcity rather than from availability at 7pm.
The trade is not free. Those roles usually need a specific qualification, and moving into one is a multi-year decision. But if you are choosing between two offers today, the hourly figure is the one to put beside them. For the headline ranking without the hours, see the highest paying jobs in Australia; to place your own pay, run a free salary check.
Drillers earn $11,000 more than ICT analysts and $20 an hour less. The salary is the headline; the hours are the price.
Occupation medians and average hours from Jobs and Skills Australia (February 2026). Per-hour figures are SalariQ calculations from those two published columns.
