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Across the veterinary industry, conversations about wages are becoming increasingly common and increasingly complex.
Clinic owners are navigating rising operational costs, recruitment pressures and staff expectations for higher pay, while many veterinary professionals feel uncertain about how wage increases are determined or why their salary doesn’t always match what they hear reported in the media.
Understanding how veterinary wages actually grow — and where the real pressures exist in the market — can help both clinics and veterinary professionals approach these discussions with greater clarity and fairness.
With EOFY approaching and early conversations around CPI increases beginning again, many veterinary clinic owners are already feeling the pressure.
Questions around pay rises, retention and fairness tend to surface quickly, often before there’s a clear strategy in place. At the same time, veterinary professionals are hearing headlines about “wage growth” and trying to reconcile that with what’s actually happening in their own pay packets.
The reality?
Veterinary wages are not simple and without the right structure, they can quickly become one of the most challenging areas of running a clinic.
One of the most misunderstood elements of wage growth is CPI (Consumer Price Index).
CPI measures the change in the cost of living across the economy, including expenses such as housing, groceries, fuel and utilities. Governments and regulators use CPI as one factor when reviewing minimum-wage and award-wage increases each year.
However, a CPI increase does not automatically mean every employee should receive that same percentage increase in their salary.
In the veterinary industry, many roles fall under the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award, which sets the minimum pay levels for different classifications.
When the Fair Work Commission increases the award wage, for example by 3%, that increase applies to the award minimum rates. Employees who are already earning above the award wage may not (and should not automatically) receive the same percentage increase.
This is where confusion often arises.
When headlines report that “wages have increased by 3%”, many employees understandably assume that their personal salary should increase by 3% as well. In reality, the increase applies to minimum award wages, not necessarily to every individual salary across the industry.
As a result, some staff may feel they are “going backwards” financially if they receive a smaller increase (or no increase), even if their wage is already significantly above the award minimum.
Another major (and often under-discussed) driver of wage pressure in 2026 is the rapid shift in the locum and casual workforce.
Clinics are increasingly relying on locum or casual team members to fill urgent gaps, particularly in a market where unfilled shifts can directly impact revenue, workflow and team wellbeing.
In these situations, clinics are often paying well above 25% or more above their standard hourly rates to secure cover.
Initially, this makes sense.
Locum and casual rates are designed to account for:
However, challenges arise when this becomes a regular pattern rather than a temporary solution.
A common scenario:
At this point, they are no longer functioning as a true “locum”, but their pay rate often remains significantly higher than that of permanent team members performing the same role.
This creates two key issues:
1. Wage disparity within teams
Permanent team members become aware that someone working alongside them is earning substantially more, often for the same responsibilities.
2. Wage creep across the business
Once this benchmark is visible, it naturally influences expectations across the team.
It’s also important to distinguish between legitimate casual loading and what has increasingly become a “name your price” market.
Casual employment typically includes a loading (often around 25%) to compensate for:
However, this loading is often misunderstood.
A casual or locum rate is not directly comparable to a permanent salary.
In practical terms:
👉 A $40/hour casual rate is not equivalent to a $40/hour permanent rate
👉 When adjusted for benefits, stability and entitlements, the “true” equivalent may be closer to ~$30–32/hour
This is where misalignment occurs.
Permanent employees may see higher casual rates and feel underpaid, without recognising that those rates are structured differently.
At the same time, some areas of the market are shifting beyond traditional casual loading into a space where rates are driven more by urgency and negotiation than by structure.
One of the most important points for clinic owners to understand, and communicate, is this:
Permanent team members should not be benchmarked against locum or casual rates.
Locum rates are designed to compensate for:
Permanent roles, on the other hand, provide:
When clinics attempt to align permanent wages with locum rates without adjusting for these factors, it can quickly become financially unsustainable and distort internal pay structures.
Veterinary medicine presents some unique challenges when it comes to pay structures.
Veterinary award wages are relatively low. The award provides a minimum safety net, but many clinics pay well above those levels to attract and retain skilled staff. However, bridging that gap requires careful financial planning.
Unlike professions with clear academic ladders, veterinary nursing progression often depends on skills developed within the clinic environment.
Over time this can create challenges:
This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as wage compression, creates what many clinics experience as a “glass ceiling” for veterinary nurses.
Leadership positions, despite their higher responsibility, can struggle to maintain a meaningful wage difference from long-tenured roles.
Without structured pay frameworks, clinics can unintentionally create systems where tenure alone drives wages rather than responsibility, performance or contribution to the business.
The veterinary workforce has undergone significant salary shifts in recent years.
Entry-level veterinarian compensation in Australia has risen dramatically, increasing approximately 35% in three years. However, mid-career and senior veterinarians have not increased at the same pace, creating further internal pressure within teams.
While wage growth is important, clinics must balance staff salaries with the overall financial sustainability of the practice.
Wages should be approximately 36–38% of revenue to support a healthy, sustainable, and profitable business. If wages increase without corresponding revenue growth, clinics can quickly face financial strain.
CPI expectations, salary pressure, and a rapidly evolving employment (and locum) market are all converging at once.
Without structure, these forces can create:
Understanding these dynamics is the first step.
In Part 2, we break down how smart clinics are taking control of wage growth and getting ahead of these issues, with practical, structured strategies to manage salaries, support teams, and protect long-term profitability.
A well-timed kick-start before the salary and CPI conversations begin — because they’re coming, whether you’re ready or not.
This post originally appeared on the Unlock Veterinary Consulting Blog: Understanding Veterinary Wage Growth 15/3/26
Lauren Chalwell is a veterinary operations leader, consultant, and founder dedicated to strengthening independent clinics across Australia and New Zealand. With a career spanning clinical nursing, multi-site operations leadership, and large-scale system and workflow implementation, she brings practical, in-clinic insight to every project. Lauren is the founder of Unlock Veterinary Consulting, supporting clinics with people-first, commercially smart business strategy, and Shift & Paws, a modern locum and staffing platform connecting good clinics with good people. She is passionate about building sustainable, psychologically safe workplaces and helping veterinary teams balance clinical excellence with strong business performance.
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