Employment Reports

SEEK Employment Report - July 2024

August 16, 2024

NATIONAL INSIGHTS

Job ads rose for the first time since March, up 1.7% m/m.
Applications per job ad rose 2.5% m/m*.

STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS

Increasing job ads in News South Wales (2.2%) and Queensland (2.6%) drove national ad volumes up in July.
Ad volumes fell m/m in Victoria (-1.0%), the Australian Capital Territory (-0.5%) and Tasmania (-0.5%).

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

All but five industries recorded an increase in ad volumes.
Hospitality & Tourism ads, which have been declining since January, rose 17.4% in July.
There was significant candidate interest in Government & Defence jobs, where applications per job ad rose 27% m/m.

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag and data shown in this report refers to June data.

Of the July data, Leigh Broderick, Head of Employment Analytics says:

"After three months of consecutive decline, job ads rose in July.

“Hospitality & Tourism jobs posted a strong month, rising for the first time this year, by 17.4%.

“Job ad volumes in Queensland have now surpassed those in Victoria, thanks to driving demand for workers in Construction, Community Services & Development and Real Estate & Property.

“Applications per job ad have risen consistently for over two years and are very elevated compared to pre-COVID norms. For candidates, this means significant competition for open roles, and for hirers, it means plenty of choice, and demonstrates the power of a well-defined recruitment process.”

NATIONAL TRENDS

Job ad volumes rose 1.7% m/m, the first increase since March. As a result the y/y decline in volumes has slowed to 15.3%, from 16.8% in June.

Most industries contributed to the rise, notably Hospitality & Tourism where volumes rose in every state and territory.

Applications per job ad rose 2.5% m/m and are 60.0% higher y/y.

STATE & TERRITORY TRENDS

Job ads declined to small degrees m/m in Victoria (1.0%), the Australian Capital Territory (-0.5%) and Tasmania (-0.5%), but rose in all other states and the Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory recorded the largest m/m increase in job ads (10.3%), the greatest monthly rise the Territory has recorded in over two years. This was driven predominantly by increases in Hospitality & Tourism (46.4%) and Education & Training (40.9%) ad volumes.

Job ads in the New South Wales increased for the first time since March, rising 2.2% and also in Queensland by 2.6%.

Ad volumes in Queensland have surpassed those in Victoria since January, showing more consistent demand for workers in the sunshine state, than in Victoria.

Applications per job ad rose in New South Wales (3%), Queensland (1%), Victoria (5%), Western Australia (4%) and the Australian Capital Territory (2%) but declined elsewhere.

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Increasing demand in the Consumer Services sector drove the overall rise in job ads in July, led by significant rises in Sport & Recreation and Hospitality & Tourism.

After recording m/m declines in ad volumes since the start of the year, job ads in Hospitality & Tourism jumped 17.4% in July. Every state and territory recorded increased demand for Hospitality & Tourism workers, and in the case of the less populous territories, significantly so.

Although a relatively small industry, ad volumes in Sport & Recreation rose 20.3% m/m in July, with demand for Coaches & Instructors rising 28% m/m.

Applications per job ad rose in most industries in June, including by 27% for Government & Defence jobs.

ENDS

ABOUT THE SEEK EMPLOYMENT REPORT

The SEEK Employment Report is Australia’s leading employment index and provides a comprehensive overview of the Australian Employment Marketplace. The report includes the SEEK Employment Index (SEI) which measures only new job ads posted within the reported month to provide a clean measure of demand for labour across all classifications.

NOTES

(1) The SEI may differ to the job ad count on SEEK’s website due to a number of factors including: a) seasonal adjustments applied to the SEI; b) the exclusion of duplicated job ads from the SEI; and c) the exclusion of Company Listings (included under Company Profiles) from the SEI

(2) The Covid-19 pandemic led to a high level of volatility in labour market data between April 2020 and March 2022. As a result, caution is recommended when interpreting trend estimates during this period as large month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks

(3) The applications per ad index contains a series break at Jan 2016 when the calculation of this series changed from using gross variables (inclusive of all SEEK job listings) to net variables (removing duplicate job listings). This change has a negligible impact on recent data points, but caution is recommended when interpreting data immediately following the series break, and particularly in 2016 where growth rates have not been adjusted for the series break.

Disclaimer: The Data should be viewed and regarded as standalone information and should not be aggregated with any other information whether such information has been previously provided by SEEK Limited, ("SEEK"). The Data is given in summary form and whilst care has been taken in its preparation, SEEK makes no representations whatsoever about its completeness or accuracy. SEEK expressly bears no responsibility or liability for any reliance placed by you on the Data, or from the use of the Data by you. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately.