An Aussie traffic controller has lifted the lid on how much he earns and revealed he can sometimes work shifts that are just 10 or 20 minutes long. Traffic control can be a lucrative industry to get into, but some workers say it can be hard to get enough hours when starting out.
The Melbourne man was stopped in the street and revealed he was earning between $1,200 and $1,500 a week as a traffic controller. He said he had worked his way up to a team leader position, which involved making sure the client was safe and ensuring pedestrians and residents were “well looked after”.
He said traffic controllers could “eventually” work up to getting four, five or six days of work per week but the hours often varied dramatically.
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“It can range anywhere between a four-hour min. So you can get to a job, it could finish in 10, 20 minutes and you still get paid for four hours,” he told jobs platform Getahead.
“Or you could get up to a 14-hour day. As a traffic controller, you can work up to 16 hours a day.”
The Melbourne man said he wouldn’t recommend the job to people finishing school who were expecting to get full-time hours straight away.
“I don’t recommend it to people that, you’re coming out to school and you’re thinking you’re going to get five or six days a week straight off the bat,” he said.
“But if you are looking to get into it and you want a couple of days a week to put some money in your pocket, I recommend it.”
Former traffic controller Rachel Breznikar told Yahoo Finance she was earning $35,000 working five days a week as a casual and struggled to get enough hours at the time.
“There’s so many TikToks about traffic controllers making a tonne of money but you really don’t,” the Central Coast resident said.
“It’s about $30 an hour, which is pretty average.”
How much do traffic controllers earn?
The average traffic control salary is $73,053 according to Talent, or $37.46 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $61,256 per year, while more expensive workers can make up to $96,130 per year.
Traffic controllers can often earn more if they are covered by a union agreement.
In Victoria, for example, CFMEU-affiliated traffic controllers working on the state’s Big Build projects can earn as much as $206,000 annually.
That’s based off a six-day, 67-hour work week and a base rate of $49 per hour, doubling to $98 an hour for 16 hours of double time.
The Melbourne man said there are some other downsides to traffic control work and said he sometimes faced abuse from other Aussies.
“You can get some rude ones, whatever, telling us that we’re in their way and then residents, some bite back, some get very abusive,” he said.
“But it comes with the job. You get told to be disciplined and you gotta stay resilient.”
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