Revealed: Employers want workers in these 5 industries

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 01: Soldiers of the 2nd Calvary Regiment salutes during the 2nd Cavalry Regiment Mounted Parade on December 01, 2018 in Townsville, Australia. The parade celebrates the 48th birthday of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and commemorates the battle of Cambrai. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Job ads were down in February this year, but not if you were looking for work in government or defence, the latest data from SEEK has revealed.

Government and defence was the strongest performing industry, with new job ads up by 17.3 per cent in February 2019, compared to February 2018.

It’s a sector creating employment opportunities across the country, SEEK ANZ managing director, Kendra Banks said.

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As is healthcare and medical, she added.

Here are the top five industries contributing to job growth

Source: SEEK

“A trend continuing in to 2019 is the labour force demand in the public sector, particularly for community services and healthcare and medical candidates,” Banks noted.

“Both have been driven by an increasing ageing population with job opportunities rising across nursing aged care and age support workers. Positions within these industries are ever-evolving and are diverse in the skills and experience hires require from candidates.”

But job ads slowed overall

Job ads were down 3.6 per cent in February, led by falls in design and architecture ads, as well as a significant slump in real estate and property job advertisements.

However, salaries were up 3.2 per cent on last year.

“We have seen a slowdown in job advertising which has been driven by a number of factors including a decline in demand for workers in real-estate and construction, business and consumer confidence and upcoming election,” Banks said.

“We will be interested to see if the growth in the other major employing industries along with the commencement of large infrastructure projects creates enough employment opportunities to offset this decline.”

Here’s how all major industries performed:

Source: SEEK

The Reserve Bank of Australia is also set to release its jobs data today, one of the most important economic indicators and a major influence on the official cash rate.

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