Australian pay guide
What does salary including super mean?
A salary including super usually means the headline package includes both cash salary and employer superannuation. The amount you can spend today is lower than the advertised package figure.
In short
If an employer says the package is a salary including super, part of the total is going into super rather than your bank account. That makes it important to separate cash pay from retirement contributions when comparing jobs.
Cash salary versus total package
The cash salary is the part paid to you as ordinary take-home pay before deductions. Employer super is paid into your superannuation fund separately and is not the same as money you receive in cash.
Why the wording matters
Some adverts quote a package “including super”, while others quote salary before super. Those two figures should not be treated as the same when you compare offers.
How this affects comparisons
If you are comparing a job offer or a pay rise, look at the cash salary, employer super guarantee, any salary sacrifice, and whether bonuses or allowances are included. A higher package can still mean a lower cash deposit than you expect.
Use the Australian superannuation calculator to see the contribution amount, the Australian salary calculator to estimate take-home pay, and the Australian job-offer comparer to compare packages side by side.