SEEK Employment Report - candidate activity continues to grow in January

Of the January data, Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ, says:

“With all eyes on the global economy, and uncertainty around what 2023 will bring for Australians, hiring activity has stabilised in January and candidate activity continues to grow.

“Advertising volumes have reverted to November levels after falling marginally in December. While 2.8% seems a small increase in volume after seven months of decline, job ad levels remain above pre-pandemic levels for the majority of industries. For our largest hiring industries by volume, for example, job ads remain over 55% higher.

“More Australians have been taking the opportunity to investigate their career options, with both visitation to seek.com.au and applications per job ad jumping month-on-month.

“This rise in applications per job ad is partly a result of the drop in job ads in December, but is also caused by increased candidate activity, as more Australians begin to make career moves.”

^{*Applications per job ad are reported with a one-month lag. Applications per job ad data referenced in this report refers to December data.}

NATIONAL INSIGHTS

Job ads rose for the first time in eight months, rising 2.8% in January and returning to November levels. While they are 8.1% down compared to January 2022, they remain 26.3% higher than January 2019, indicating that the market remains tight, despite job ads no longer being at record-level.

Applications per job ad rose 9.2% m/m, the seventh consecutive month of growth. They are now 35.5% higher y/y and only 9.5% down on pre-pandemic volumes.

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m January 2022 to January 2023

Table 1: National, state and territory job ad growth/decline comparing January 2023 to: i) December 2022 (m/m),  and ii) January 2021 (y/y).

Figure 2: Major state job ad trends: January 2019 to January 2023

STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS

Job ads in all states and territories rose in January. The greatest rise was recorded by Tasmania which grew 8.5% m/m, driven by a 33% increase in job ads in Hospitality & Tourism.

Queensland was responsible for the national job ad growth, rising 4.2% with ads in Hospitality & Tourism, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics and Information & Communication Technologies the greatest contributors.  

Applications per job ad also rose in all states and territories in December, with a 13% increase recorded in New South Wales and a 10% increase in Western Australia.

Figure 3: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by state: January 2023 vs December 2022

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

The overall growth in job ads in January was led by Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, which grew 5.3% m/m, Trades & Services, up 2.5% and Accounting, which increased 7.6%.

For some industries, the rise in job ads in January was the first rise since job ads peaked in the middle of last year, and yet the majority of industries are still at job ad volumes higher than January 2019.  Seven industries have recorded job ads at least 50% greater than pre-pandemics levels.

Table 2: Job ads by industry: January 2023 v January 2019.  

Only four industries recorded job ad decline in January, but at small margins, with Healthcare & Medical falling 0.3%, Education & Training 0.2%, Mining, Recourses & Energy down 1.5% and Advertising, Arts & Media decreasing by 1.6%.

There was a 20% increase in applications per job ad for Hospitality & Tourism jobs, with a 19% rise in those applying for jobs for Chefs/ Cooks and a 35% jump in applications for Bar/ Beverage Staff roles.

Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (January 2023 vs December 2022) – Ordered by job ad volume

Click for the latest SEEK Employment Report data or for more employment insights or career advice please visit SEEK’s Hiring Advice or SEEK's Career Advice. 

MEDIA NOTE: When reporting SEEK data, we request that you attribute SEEK as the source and refer to SEEK as an employment marketplace.

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.