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Jobs boom slowing but these industries still need more workers

People walking to work
The war for talent is far from over, with job ads still up in all industries since this time last year. (Source: Getty)

The red-hot job market might be starting to cool off, with SEEK job ad numbers falling for the first time all year from May to June.

Job ads dropped 2.1 per cent, month on month, according to the SEEK Employment Dashboard, marking the first decline after five consecutive months of growth.

Despite the month-on-month slide, SEEK ANZ managing director Kendra Banks said

job ads were still 23.2 per cent higher than this time last year and 52 per cent higher than June 2019.

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Compono chief executive officer Trent Innes said the drop in month-over-month job ad volume should be considered in the context of significant job ad growth over the past 12 months.

However, he said the slight downturn in June could signal the start of easing in the job market.

“This feels like the first indicator of the journey back to pre-COVID levels,” Innes said.

“We anticipate this will take some time while we still have historically low unemployment.”

In June, applications per job ad also continued to fall, dropping by 4.6 per cent.

The workers are still in high demand

Job ads are still up in every industry compared to the same time last year, but most reported a slowdown, month over month.

Accounting roles bucked the trend, reporting a 4 per cent month-on-month increase and 34 per cent, year on year.

Trades and services jobs also saw a 1.2 per cent jump, with ad volumes up 27.7 per cent, year on year.

Hospitality and tourism saw the biggest job ad decline in June, falling by 8.6 per cent. However, ad volumes were still up 32.3 per cent, year on year, in the sector.

Retail jobs fell 5.8 per cent, month on month (still up 43 per cent, year on year), and community services and development jobs slid 5.4 per cent (still up 21.8 per cent, year on year).

Overseas workers coming back

Overseas workers have been slow to return, post-COVID, but data from job site Indeed showed interest in Australian job postings had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Job seekers outside of Australia accounted for 8.3 per cent of clicks on job postings on Indeed between January and May - up from 5.6 per cent during the same period last year.

These numbers outpaced pre-pandemic levels in both 2018 and 2019.

Overseas job seekers were most interested in agriculture and engineering positions, with most overseas clicks coming for jobs requiring a university education.

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