Spike in job ads shows it's a candidate's world

August job ads on SEEK rose 13.2% in August compared to a year earlier, reaching their highest level since 2010.

“It’s a great time to be a jobseeker in Australia,” said Michael Ilczynski, managing director for Seek Australia and New Zealand.

Job advertisements for the Mining, Resources and Energy industry jumped 72% in August, year-on-year.

Science and technology came second, with farming, animals and conservation and consulting strategy next with increases of 36%, 35% and 34% respectively.

Still, for August 2017, the information & communication technology, trades & services and the healthcare & medical industries offered the most job opportunities on SEEK.

“These positive trends in advertising on SEEK point to an improving labour market and suggests that positive economic momentum, evident in the June quarter National Accounts GDP Report, is continuing into the second half of the year,” Ilczynski said.

Geographically, all states and territories enjoyed positive year-on-year job ad growth on SEEK.

“While off a lower base, Tasmania and the Northern Territory notched up the strongest growth in job ads on SEEK in August, up 33.8 per cent year-on-year and 23.7 per cent year-on-year respectively,” explained Ilczynski.

Education focus
Meanwhile, demand for childcare services in Australia has surged in the past few years; placements on SEEK for childcare professionals have also increased.

Since 2010, most job opportunities in the education and training industry, on SEEK, were for the childcare and outside school hours care workers.

“It’s no surprise that childcare professionals are in demand on SEEK. Childcare is a booming sector across Australia.”

“A recent review of the Australian Childcare industry by Colliers International in May 2016 revealed that 1.2 million children attend approximately 17,000 government approved childcare services nationwide,” said Ilczynski. “Those numbers have grown substantially over the last five years, recording an annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent.”

Early childhood teaching was another area of the education & training industry that had strong advertising on SEEK from June to August 2017. This field also enjoyed 14 per cent new job ads year-on-year.

But within the industry it is tertiary teaching that showed highest job ad growth from June to August. It is up 28 percent year-on-year.

 “A recent media report by Australian Financial Review stated that the Commonwealth Government is looking to double the number of onshore enrolments by 2025. Consequently, this may be allied to the increasing growth in job ads on SEEK for tertiary teaching positions, as well as management positions at tertiary institutions,” Ilczynski continued.

                       
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