Yahoo Finance Jobs market booming: Where Aussies are needed most
There are more jobs available now than ever before, according to a new report, with jobs ads rising 263.7 per cent from last year.
The Seek Employment Report for April shows every Aussiue state and territory has seen an increase in job ads as Australia's recovery from COVID-19 lows continues to grow.
“For the second consecutive month, we have seen the highest number of job ads ever posted on seek.com.au,” Seek managing director Australia and New Zealand Kendra Banks said.
“Traditionally at this time of year we would be talking about a quieter employment market due to the impact of the Easter holidays on recruitment – but to say this is not a typical year is an understatement.”
Industries that need people the most
For the third month in a row every industry, except Farming, Animals and Conservation, has seen month-on-month growth.
The top three industries looking to hire are Hospitality & Tourism, Trades and Services, and Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics.
“The COVID bounce back continues at pace, and particularly in small and medium-sized businesses. Job ad volumes in the Hospitality & Tourism industry have grown 21.7 per cent month-on-month and are 16 times higher when comparing April 2021 to April 2020,” Banks said.
However, part of the reason for the meteoric rise is because of the massive hit these industries took last year Banks said.
“As I referenced last month when we reported record-breaking figures, there are factors that are driving these strong numbers that are important to consider, including that many of the jobs currently being advertised are for roles that were displaced in the last year.”
The following 11 industries, listed in order of highest volume of roles, all had more job ads in April 2021 than ever before on seek.com.au.
Trades & Services
Hospitality & Tourism
Healthcare & Medical
Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics
Education & Training
Retail & Consumer Products
Community Services & Development
Marketing & Communications
Government & Defence
Farming, Animals & Conservation
Sports & Recreation
Where are the jobs?
The report found that all states and territories showed strong growth over April. The top three states that contributed the most to job ad growth were New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.
“This comeback from COVID is occurring right across Australia. Every state and territory had more job ads last month on seek.com.au than ever before,” Banks said.
“Around this time last year, the first wave of restrictions were imposed, and each state and territory was similarly impacted.”
Banks said a standout state is Victoria, which was subjected to stronger restrictions than other states this time last year.
“It is particularly pleasing to see it has recovered well, recording the highest percentage increase month-on-month as well as showing the highest growth since this time last year,” Banks said.
“This is a demonstration of the growing business confidence in the state and continued relaxation and removal of restrictions, particularly in the Melbourne CBD.”
What does this mean?
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has said the Government is focused on getting the unemployment rate to a point where “there is a four in front of it”.
The unemployment rate currently stands at 5.6 per cent.
The Seek Employment Report shows that hiring is picking up again, and there are more opportunities for people to access the workforce.
Additionally, the Seek report found that applications per ad have been falling as ads increase.
“In regard to jobseekers’ behaviour, in February 2021, applications per ad were 28.7 per cent lower than February 2020, and have dropped a further 13.8 per cent in March this year, meaning that the current applications per ad continue to be at the lowest levels they have been since 2012,” Banks said.
“The reasons for this include workers continuing to display a more cautious attitude to the job market, and the reduced labour supply impacting the ability to fill roles.”
While it’s not ideal to have labour shortages, with a high demand for workers generally comes wage increases.
The Reserve Bank said it needs to start seeing an increase in wage growth before it will consider raising interest rates.
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