Australian workers happy to stay put

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Australian workers are currently staying put in the current positions, not because they want to – but because they fear they won’t find a new job, new research has found.

The latest labour mobility index released by HR service provider, Randstad, recorded a steep decline in the third quarter of 2011, with the index tracking workers’ expectations about being employed elsewhere within the next six months.

Fred van der Tang,Randstad CEO, commented that worker confidence seems to have fallen in accordance with concerns over the broader economic outlook.

Van der Tang said, “When the economy shows signs of instability, we generally see reduced worker mobility [and] it’s natural in times of uncertainty for workers to tread cautiously and stick with what they know.”

He reasoned that during the stronger economic outlook earlier this year, the index recorded much higher levels of optimism among workers.

“We expect mobility to return to the labour market once key economic indicators reflect a more positive outlook,” Van der Tang said.

However, it seems that in a global context, Australians remain a highly mobile workers, ranking third in the world behind China and India.

Further, in the Asia-Pacific region, Australian workers are less concerned about climbing the corporate ladder than respondents in India, Singapore and New Zealand.

Other notable findings from the labour mobility index found that of Australian workers:

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