Sports sector under the microscope

If you are thinking about turning your passion for sport and fitness into a career, new research by Southern Cross University and recruitment agency, Sportspeople, may be food for thought.

Recently released data from the national 2008 Sportspeople Workplace survey has found that people working in the sport, fitness and aquatic sector are earning more and working fewer hours than they were five years ago, but still face significant work-life balance issues.

Dr Dave Arthur, of Southern Cross University’s Graduate College of Management, said the preliminary data provided useful comparisons with the 2003 Sportspeople Workplace Survey.

“The level of education of people working in the sport fitness and aquatic sector has remained high and we’ve seen salaries jump - for example the mean salary for males was between $70,000 and $75, 000 in 2008, which is up from between $45,000 and $50,000 in 2003,” said Dr Arthur.

“One of the other interesting findings is that more people now work less than 40 hours a week than in 2003, although with 55% working over 40 hours a week it is still safe to say that work-life balance is still a considerable issue for many people in the sector.”

More than 1000 respondents from Australia and New Zealand participated in the 2008 Sportspeople Workplace Survey, which was conducted by Southern Cross University’s Graduate College of Management and sport, fitness and aquatic recruitment agency, Sportspeople.

Survey partners included AUSTSWIM, Fitness Australia, Sport NSW, VicSport, SportSA, QSport, ACTSport, WA Sports Federation and the Institute of Sport Management.

Dr Arthur said other key findings provided an interesting snapshot of the industry that could be put to practical use.

“Just over half of the respondents were aged under 35 years, but almost 20% of respondents in 2008 had more than 15 years experience in the industry – which is up from 10.9% in 2003,” said Dr Arthur.

“This data illustrates changes and build a clear picture of the sector, which is essential for efficient recruitment and industry benchmarking.”

Photo: Dr Dave Arthur(high resolution image available on request)