Casual/vacation roles on SEEK growing at faster rate than full-time
The latest SEEK data has revealed that casual/vacation positions were the fastest growing role type on SEEK this March when compared to the same period last year.
Michael Ilczynski, Managing Director for SEEK Australia and New Zealand, said the split between full time and non-full time based work in job advertising has continued to grow since late 2010. The rise in non-full-time job ads has been driven primarily by a steep rise in casual/vacation work.
“At a national level this March, job ads on SEEK for casual/vacation roles increased 19 per cent year on year [y/y], while new full-time job ads increased 5 per cent y/y. The combined national increase of new job ads on SEEK this March, which also includes part-time and contract/temp roles, was 5.2 per cent y/y,” revealed Ilczynski.
“The decline in full-time work in Australia could be partly due to the structural changes in our country's labour market that is seeing full-time roles being replaced by causal, contract and part-time employment,” Ilczynski continued.
The industries across Australia that offered the most casual/vacation job opportunities on SEEK and the professionals most in-demand this March were:
- Hospitality & Tourism [up 38 per cent y/y]
- Chef/Cooks and Waiting Staff
- Trades & Service [up 31 per cent y/y]
- Labourers and Welders & Boilermakers
- Manufacturing Transport & Logistics [up 10 per cent y/y]
- Warehouse, Storage & Distribution workers, and Road Transport professionals
“SEEK's data shows, South Australia [SA] enjoyed the largest y/y advertising growth of casual/vacation roles this March [up 39 per cent y/y], followed by Western Australia [up 30 per cent y/y] and Victoria [up 27 per cent y/y],” Ilczynski said.
“Across South Australia and Western Australia, Trades & Service had the most casual job opportunities on SEEK this March. While in Victoria, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics recorded the highest volumes of causal job ads on SEEK,” he added.
Table 1: Growth of Casual/Vacation roles on SEEK — March 2017 v March 2016
| LOCATION | WORK TYPE | % Growth [Mar 17 v Mar 16] |
| SA | Casual/Vacation | 39% |
| WA | Casual/Vacation | 30% |
| VIC | Casual/Vacation | 27% |
| ACT | Casual/Vacation | 23% |
| QLD | Casual/Vacation | 17% |
| NSW | Casual/Vacation | 15% |
| TAS | Casual/Vacation | 14% |
| NT | Casual/Vacation | 9% |
STATES AND REGIONS
Across Australia there were 5.2 per cent more jobs advertised on SEEK this March than 12 months ago.
The industries offering the most job opportunities on SEEK in March were:
- Information & Communication Technology, up 6 per cent y/y
- Trade & Services, up 24 per cent y/y
- Healthcare & Medical, up 17 per cent y/y
Michael Ilczynski said even though advertising on SEEK was up year on year this March, new job ads dipped slightly month on month [m/m].
“The 1 per cent m/m decline in new job advertising in March comes off the back of an improving trend in job advertising in recent months, and is primarily driven by the effects of Cyclone Debbie and the timing of Easter,” revealed Ilczynski.
“In Queensland, job ads were up 6 per cent y/y but were down 2.1 per cent m/m in March, with the majority of that dip attributed to Cyclone Debbie.”
In other states and regions, Tasmania recorded the largest job ad growth this March, up 23.7 per cent y/y. Fuelling this growth were the following industries; Healthcare & Medical [up 49 per cent y/y], Hospitality and Tourism [up 29 per cent y/y] and Trades & Services [up 43 per cent y/y].
“Strong advertising uplift on SEEK was also seen in South Australia [up 17.4 per cent y/y], Western Australia [10.3 per cent y/y] and the Northern Territory [up 10.2 per cent y/y],” Ilczynski said.
“The strength of WA's recovery from the mining downturn continues with job ads rising for the sixth consecutive month in March [up 3.3 per cent m/m].
“In NSW, our country's largest labour market, new job ads on SEEK on rose 0.2 per cent y/y this March. However, advertising on SEEK continued to rise in Victoria, our nation's second largest jobs market, increasing 8.9 per cent y/y this March, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory [ACT], up 7.7 per cent y/y” Ilczynski added.
CANDIDATE AVAILABILITY
Nationally there has been a y/y decrease of 5.1 per cent in the SEEK Employment Index this March, which points to less favourable conditions for job seekers as there were more applications for each role.
However, underneath this national figure there is a clear difference in candidate availability at a state and territory level.
“In NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, NT and the ACT this March, conditions became more reasonable for hirers. For each job advertised there was a higher number of candidates applying, creating more competition for job seekers but providing hirers with a larger pool of candidates to choose from,” Ilczynski said.
“While in SA and WA, there were improved competition conditions for job seekers compared to previous months,” he added.
