Jobs ads down 6.5% year on year and salaries grow by 3.4%

STATE OF THE NATION:

  • Overview of May 2019 (vs. May 2018):
    • SEEK job ads are down by 6.5%
    • Average advertised salary up by 3.4%
  • The four industries positively contributing to the job ad volume include: Education & Training, Healthcare & Medical, Mining, Resources & Energy and Science & Technology
  • The top five industries showing salary growth are Advertising, Arts & Media, Banking & Financial Services, Community Services & Development, Trades & Services, Human Resources & Recruitment

STATE OF THE STATES:

  • All states are showing a decline in job ad volume except Australian Capital Territory (+12.9%)
  • For the fifth month in a row Tasmania leads salary growth (5.8%) followed by WA (4.3%)

 

STATE OF THE NATION

The latest SEEK Employment Report shows a decline of 6.5% in jobs advertised compared to May 2018. Whereas, the average advertised salary across Australia rose 3.4% year on year.

Job ad growth in industries related to public service continue to perform including Education & Training (+11.9%) and Healthcare & Medical (+3.7%). In addition, jobs ads for Mining, Resources & Energy (+5.3%) continue to rise with the industry consistently driving job ad growth since the beginning of the year. Science & Technology (+0.3%) sector still experienced a modest growth in job ads, compared to this time last year.

Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ comments: “It has been interesting to see that job ad volumes have moderated in May after a pronounced drop in April. We suspected that April advertising was heavily impacted by multiple public holidays and the lead up to the Federal election, and our data has verified this hypothesis.

While May job ad volumes are still down from 2018 it is important to note that 2018 was somewhat of an anomaly with the highest [job ad volumes] in the past decade. If we compare May 2019 to May 2017, we can see that this month had 3.0% more jobs advertised.”

“As Australian businesses work through the outcomes of the Federal election and set their 2020 financial year budgets, it will be interesting to see which industry groups commit to new headcount. Our data is showing strong growth across Education & Training and Healthcare & Medical sectors, and we will watch these sectors closely as we head into what is traditionally the busiest recruitment period of the year.”

Table 1: Four sectors showing job ad growth.

INDUSTRY

PERCENTAGE GROWTH (Y/Y MAY 2019)

Education & Training

+13.7%

Healthcare & Medical

+7.8%

Mining, Resources & Energy

+5.3%

Science & Technology

+0.3%

STATE OF THE NATION: SALARY

Despite the slowdown in job ads, the average advertised salary across Australia in May was up +3.4% on last year. There was a strong growth in salaries across all states, with Tasmania (+5.8%), Western Australia (+4.3%) and Queensland (+3.8%) leading the way.

Kendra Banks comments: “There’s been a 3.4% increase in average advertised salary compared to this time last year.  We have seen salary increases in the majority of sectors, with the ones with the biggest growth being Advertising, Arts & Media (+6.6%), Banking & Financial Services (+6.4%), Community Services & Development (+6.2%), Trades & Services (+5.6%), Human Resources & Recruitment (+5.1%).”

Figure 1: National SEEK Job Ad growth by state (May 2018 vs. May 2019)

Figure 2: National SEEK Job Ad growth by industry (May 2018 vs. May 2019)

Table 2: Average Advertised Salaries Seasonally Adjusted

SALARIES SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

MAY 19

ACT

NSW

NT

SA

TAS

VIC

WA

QLD

AUS

% increase

0.3%

3.1%

2.7%

2.9%

5.8%

3.5%

4.3%

3.8%

3.4%

avg. $

 $ 89,250

 $ 89,870

 $ 87,232

 $ 82,309

 $ 78,324

 $ 87,751

 $ 91,070

 $ 85,464

 $ 88,260

Download the SEEK employment data here