SEEK Employment Report March - applications per job ad increased 4.0% month-on-month
MARCH 2023 KEY FINDINGS:
NATIONAL INSIGHTS:
- Job ad volumes decreased 0.6% month-on-month (m/m) and are 15.7% lower year-on-year (y/y).
- Applications per job ad rose from the month prior, increasing 4.0%.*
STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS:
- Declining volumes in New South Wales (-1.0%) and Victoria (-1.2%) contributed to the national drop in job ads.
- Job ad levels in metropolitan areas fell by 0.9%, whereas those in regional areas rose by 0.3%.
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS:
- A 5.5% decline in job ads in Hospitality & Tourism contributed to the overall decline in March.
- Demand for teachers led to notable increases in job ad volumes in Education & Training (2.4%).
Of the March data, Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ, says:
“It has been three years since COVID began to impact the Australian labour market and the flow on effects are still being felt, with unemployment extremely low and job ad volumes remaining elevated compared to 2019 levels.
“Job ads are falling, but only marginally each month, as the market continues to stabilise post the job ad boom of last year. There is also understandably some trepidation among hirers as to the economic outlook, particularly in our largest capital cities, contributing to the slight slowdown in hiring.
“Candidate activity is picking up across all of our metrics, and applications per job ad are at the highest level they have been in almost two years, though still below pre-pandemic levels. Most industries recorded greater applications per job ad in March, particularly for secondary and vocational teaching roles.”
NATIONAL INSIGHTS
Job ads fell for a second consecutive month, dropping 0.6% in March after a 1.3% decline in February. Despite this, job ad volumes remain 1.0% higher than they were at the end of last year, demonstrating recent declines have been marginal. Job ads are 15.7% lower y/y but 25.1% higher than March 2019.
Applications per job ad rose by 4.0% from January to February. As job ads fell only slightly during that period, this shows applications picking up at a faster rate than job ads are falling, indicating increased activity among candidates. Applications per job ad remain below 2019 levels, but are 48.5% higher than they were in March 2022.
* Applications per job ad are reported with a one-month lag. Applications per job ad data referenced in this report refers to February data.
Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m March 2022 to March 2023
Table 1: National, state and territory and metro/ regional job ad growth/decline comparing March 2023 to: i) February 2023 (m/m), and ii) March 2022 (y/y).
Figure 2: Major state job ad trends: March 2020 to March 2023
STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS
New South Wales and Victoria drove the national decline in job ads in March, due to a fall in demand in their respective capital cities.
Job ads in Melbourne fell 1.5%, whereas those outside of the Greater Melbourne area did not change. In Sydney, job ads fell 1.6%, but in all other areas of New South Wales rose by 0.9%.
Nationally, job ads in regional areas rose slightly by 0.3%, whereas there was a 0.9% drop in metro areas.
Tasmania recorded the greatest monthly increase, up 3.2%.
Figure 3: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by state: March 2023 vs February 2023
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Education & Training roles rose in volume for the third consecutive month, up 2.4% from February nationally, and rising in all states and territories apart from Victoria and Western Australia. The uplift was due to rising demand for secondary and vocational teachers.
Job ads in Hospitality & Tourism have been falling since June 2022 (aside from a slight uplift in December) and drove the overall decline, dropping 5.5% m/m.
Applications per job ad have risen m/m in most of the largest industries, in line with job ad volumes dropping.
Significantly, applications per job ad for Information & Communication Technology roles rose 11% m/m and are now nearing the peak levels recorded in 2020, likely as a result of downsizing and hiring freezes occurring within the industry over recent months.
Table 2: Changes in job ad volume in Education & Training roles March 2023 v February 2023 (m/m)
Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (March 2023 vs February 2023) – Ordered by job ad volume
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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.
Note: the SEI may differ to the job ad count on SEEK’s website due to a number of factors including: 1) seasonal adjustments applied to the SEI; 2) the exclusion of duplicated job ads from the SEI; and 3) the exclusion of Company Listings (included under Company Profiles) from the SEI.
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.
About SEEK
SEEK is a market leader in online employment marketplaces that span ten countries across Asia Pacific and Latin America. SEEK invests heavily to create innovative technology products to help people live more fulfilling and productive working lives and help organisations succeed.
Last year, SEEK was recognised as one of Australia’s Top Ten Places to Work in Tech in the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work awards and in 2023 celebrates 25 years since the launch of seek.com.au.
