Yahoo Finance The surprise Aussie industries desperate for workers
There continues to be a worker shortage in Australia as COVID-19 continues to put a strain on businesses.
The latest SEEK employment report has found nearly all industries have shown significant job ad growth, often greater than pre-COVID-19 levels – but applications per job ad remain subdued.
“The last month of the financial year saw SEEK job ad numbers remain strong, despite a small month-on-month decline of 1.3 per cent. Job ads are 23.7 per cent higher than they were in the same month two years ago,” Managing director of SEEK ANZ Kendra Banks said.
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The report found that there are staffing challenges in nearly every sector, with applications per job ad down in 25 of the 28 industries SEEK monitors.
“For the first time since the height of the pandemic we have seen the number of applications per job ad increase by 6.1 per cent month-on-month,” Banks said.
“However, application numbers per job ad are still close to the lowest that they have been since 2012.”
Banks said that In the last few months, SEEK has had between 39 and 42 million visits to its website per month.
“That tells us that Australians are still viewing job ads, but jobseekers are simply not applying at the same rates as they were pre-COVID 19,” she said.
“We know candidates are being more cautious about moving jobs, as our research shows that two in three say that job security has become more important to them during the pandemic.”
Which industries need workers the most?
Previously, and unsurprisingly, as businesses began to open up again after the 2020 wave of the pandemic, industries like hospitality and tourism were the main drivers of job ads.
However, that’s now changed.
The report shows that national job ad growth is being driven by positions in professional services.
This includes advertising and marketing, engineering, banking and financial services, legal, science and technology and consulting jobs.
“Throughout the pandemic, professional services has been the slowest sector to recover. This sector is mostly made up of office-based CBD roles,” Banks said.
“As we move into the new financial year, it will be interesting to see if these roles increase further as business priorities and new budgets are set.”
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