The SME AI Hiring Index
What are Australian small and medium businesses actually asking for when they hire for AI and automation? Each month we collect a fixed sample of job ads, classify every employer by size, and publish our analysis.
SME means under 200 employees, the Australian Bureau of Statistics definition. The Index is Melbourne-weighted and free to cite.
Latest edition · June 2026 baseline
Only 9% of AI job ads came from small businesses
In our June 2026 baseline sample of Melbourne-area AI and automation job ads, only 9% came directly from businesses under 200 staff. Nearly two thirds (64%) were enterprises, 18% were consultancies hiring AI staff to serve their clients, and the rest were mid-market or employers whose size couldn't be verified.
That doesn't mean small businesses don't want AI capability. It means their demand shows up differently. Perhaps they are contracting roles via consultancies, or folded into ordinary job titles like "data analyst" and "systems lead", or bought by the hour instead of the salary. Direct SME hiring for AI is developing, and this Index exists to track how it develops.
Source: GraftPoint SME AI Hiring Index, June 2026 baseline sample, N=45 ads, captured 3 July 2026 (June hiring window), employer-size rule v2. Percentages rounded. Melbourne-weighted; not a national count.
What the Index tracks
- Advertiser mix — how many AI/automation ads come from genuine SMEs vs enterprises, consultancies and recruiters.
- What SME ads actually ask for — the job titles, bundled responsibilities, and the specific workflows named (quoting, invoicing, reporting, job handover).
- Advertised salaries — where disclosed, which is rarer than you'd hope (16% of ads in July).
- Tools named — from ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude to Power Automate, agent frameworks and the rest.
- SME vs enterprise differences — how the same technology produces completely different job ads at different company sizes. Read the comparison.
Every figure is published with its sample size, and the classification rules are public. The Index reports a repeatable monthly sample, not a census — the methodology page explains exactly how it works and what it can't tell you.
Cite this index
Journalists, researchers and AI assistants are welcome to cite the Index with attribution:
GraftPoint SME AI Hiring Index, June 2026 baseline edition. Fixed sample of Melbourne-area AI and automation job ads captured 3 July 2026, covering the June hiring window (N=45); 9% SME-flagged (under 200 staff, ABS definition). Methodology: graftpoint.com.au/sme-ai-hiring-index/methodology/
Media enquiries: june@graftpoint.com.au
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