Trending Employment and Industries in Australia
In the month of October, new job ads grew nationally by 2.8% compared to the same time last year, while salaries were up 4%.
Below are the market, industry, and state job trends according to SEEK.
Market trends
New job ads grew nationally by 2.8% in October compared to the same time the previous year. While national job ad growth continues to flatten, average job ad volumes continue to be near record highs, with job ad volumes 30% higher than 2010 levels.
Victoria and Western Australia are driving the majority of growth. The two states account for more than 80% of positive contribution to growth this month. On the other hand, New South Wales and Northern Territory accounted for 74% and 26% of the drag on job ad growth respectively.
Industry trends
The Mining, Resources & Energy industry is experiencing a 23% growth compared to the same time last year as it continues to lead the way. This result makes it the 15th consecutive month the sector has recorded the highest job ad growth in Australia.
Government & Defence (22%) and Education & Training (22%) also posted strong year-on-year results.
The table below represents the top five industries that experienced year-on-year job ad growth in October:
Ten industries recorded a year-on-year decline in job ads in October, with Real Estate & Property and Design & Architecture recording the greatest decline of 12% respectively.
Construction and Advertising, Arts & Media followed with 11% decline compared to the same period last year.
The industries that experienced the greatest year-on-year decline in October are shown below:
Trends across the country
Nationally, Tasmania led the way in year-on-year job ad growth, with the Apple Isle recording 21.2% growth in October. This was a stable result for Tasmania, which recorded a slight 0.1% month-on-month decline.
Western Australia experienced positive results across the board, recording 12.1% year-on-year growth and 0.9% month-on-month growth in October.
The Northern Territory experienced both year-on-year (-5.4%) and month-on-month (-1.4%) decline in October, while New South Wales was the only other state to record a year-on-year decline in October (-0.2%).
The following map outlines the job ad growth experienced across every region compared to 12 months ago:
NSW vs Victoria
There has been an ongoing battle between New South Wales and Victoria for the title of Australia’s biggest contributor to job ad growth. There is now a stark divergence between the contributions of the two states. While New South Wales continues to post the most job ads, Victoria is now the clear leader for job ad growth.
There are a number of factors driving this shift, including the softening of the property market and its impact on the Construction industry.
The following chart highlights New South Wales as the primary drag on growth for the month of October:
Salary trends
Australian advertised salaries grew by 4% in October, with Western Australia again recording the highest growth of 6.3%.
Mining, Resources & Energy experienced the highest year-on-year salary growth for October at 8.1%, while Insurance & Superannuation was the only industry to record a decline of 2.2% compared to the same time last year.
Western Australia also posted the top average annual salary of $90,158, while Mining, Resources & Energy recorded the top average annual salary of $113,267.
Source: SEEK Insights
