“The job market has been turned on its head from the situation last year, becoming an employees' market.”
ALIZA SWEIRY UK MANAGING DIRECTOR, AQUENT
Experienced art directors moving jobs in 2021 secured big pay rises as the marketing industry got back to its feet after 2020, according to annual figures from the marketing industry recruiter Aquent.
On average, senior art directors notched up a 21% increase but midweight art directors more than doubled this to 44%.
There was a large disparity with the fortunes of copywriters, who managed 14% at senior level and 7% at mid-level.
The tables were turned on the lower rung, with junior art directors not securing any increase but junior copywriters boosting their pay by 16%.
The changes occurred within a wider creative jobs boom that Aquent attributed to a skills shortage caused by redundancies in 2020, which had the effect of allowing midweight-level staff to “push for higher salaries” this year.
There were even greater pay gains on offer in super-hot sectors such as user experience (UX). Both junior and midweight UX designers achieved average increases of 33% and senior UX designers landed 50% jumps.
This article originally appeared on Campaign.
