Western Australian fast-food chain offers $130,000 salary to attract staff

Chicken Treat offered a management position at its South Hedland store for $130,000. Photo / Google Maps

Western Australian fast food chain Chicken Treat has offered up to $130,000 ($143.2k) for a store manager in the Pilbara region as the state grapples with an ongoing skills shortage.

Chicken Treat, which launched in 1976, says applicants for the role in South Hedland were offered an option to fly-in-fly-out for the position and a performance-based manager bonus.

They will also provide relocation assistance with two return flights home a year.

Applicants were required to post proof of management experience in hospitality.

Economist Conrad Liveris commented on the hospitality predicament, claiming salary incentives similar to Chicken Treat's massive offer were necessary to attract skilled workers for more remote regions.

"It's a regional job so you got to pay a bit more there and it's hardly a glamorous job, you've got to pay a bit extra to make it enticing for people," he said via the West Australian.

The publication reported the Chicken Treat position was posted on Seek.com and was closed two weeks ago.

"This is a sign that employers are responding to the tight labour market by actually increasing wages. They've gone from complaining to starting to pay.

"It's actually a sign of the market just working as it should and employers that can pay for staff are actually paying."

Liveris said the sizeable salary package was rare and would not be common for a more metropolitan area like Perth.

"There is such a demand that [Chicken Treat] think that they can pay a manager $130,000 and still make a profit.

"This also shows that the Port Hedland and South Hedland employers know that they need to compete for mining workers, they need to pay high salaries."

The National Skills Commission recently reported job advertisements ballooned out to 128 per cent in the South West of Western Australia.

Perth saw a 98.6 per cent growth, compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

It came as Premier Mark McGowan encouraged Aussies to move west last week, claiming the state's cheaper homes and higher wages made the transition "a no-brainer".

"We have the lowest unemployment rate [2.9 per cent] by a long way and the highest participation rate, so [the worker shortage] is more acute here," McGowan said.

"One of the things I'll point out is that we have cheapest housing comparatively, the highest average weekly earnings, a great lifestyle and secure work.

"When I was in Sydney last week I saw lots of people who have very ordinary paying jobs yet the average price of a house there is $1.2 million — I don't understand how people live.

"They could move here and have a much better and more affordable life, own their own home and have money left over. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned."