SEEK Employment Report - May 2024
NATIONAL INSIGHTS:
Job ads fell just 0.6% month-on-month (m/m) and are 17.9% lower year-on-year (y/y).
Applications per job ad rose 0.3% m/m and are 59.3% higher y/y*.
STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS:
Job ads rose by 5.4% in Tasmania, due to growth in Healthcare & Medical and Hospitality & Tourism roles.
Ad volumes in New South Wales and Victoria have fallen 24.1% y/y.
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS:
Job ads in Real Estate & Property rose 4.8% m/m and are 13% higher since November.
Applications per job ad have doubled y/y for Information & Communication Technology and Consulting & Strategy roles.
*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to April data.
Of the May data, Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ, says:
“Job ad volumes fell for a second consecutive month but the rate of decline was markedly slower in May, falling just 0.6%.
“While ad volume dropped in the more populous states and in the Northern Territory, in Tasmania – where volumes have been the most stable over the past year – job ads rose 5.4% from April, largely due to an increase in Healthcare & Medical roles.
“With housing affordability and accessibility an ongoing issue for most of the country, demand for Real Estate & Property workers has been increasing steadily for the past half-year, and in May rose in all but one state.
“Competition for roles within the Information & Communication Technology and Consultancy & Strategy industries continues to rise, with applications per job ad now double what they were in April 2023.”
NATIONAL INSIGHTS
Job ads declined marginally in May falling 0.6% m/m. Small drops in the most populous states contributed to the national decline, although it was in the regions where monthly decline was most noticeable. Metro areas fell 0.3% m/m, whereas the regions fell 1.4%.
Applications per job ad, which have been on the rise for almost two years, increased just 0.3%, the smallest monthly rise since July 2022.
Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m May 2023 to May 2024
STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS
Small declines in ad volumes in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory contributed to the national decline in May.
Job ads in Tasmania rose 5.4% m/m, and have recorded the smallest decline y/y, down just 3.5%. Increases in hiring activity in Healthcare & Medical (11.4%), Education & Training (29.6%) and Retail & Consumer Products (15.6%) all contributed to the softer y/y decline.
By contrast, ad volumes in New South Wales and Victoria are both 24.1% lower y/y, with decline across the board in most industries. Job ads have fallen further in Melbourne and Sydney compared to the rest of those states.
Applications per job ad fell in Victoria (-2.9%), Western Australia (-2.9%) and Tasmania (-2.4%) but rose in all other states and territories. For Victoria, this is the first time in over two years applications per job ad have declined.
Figure 2: State and territory job ad growth/decline comparing May 2024 to April 2024 (m/m).
Table 1: State and territory job ad growth/decline comparing May 2024 to May 2023 (y/y).
Figure 3: Major state job ad trends: May 2020 to May 2024
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Sixteen of SEEK’s 28 industry classifications recorded increases in job ads m/m. These included Real Estate & Property (4.8%), Legal (4.2%) and Healthcare & Medical (0.8%).
Over the past seven months, hiring activity within Real Estate & Property has increased, with ad volumes rising 13% since November. Job ads have risen across all roles within this industry, including Commercial Sales, Leasing & Property Management (20%) to Residential Leasing & Property Management (14%) and Residential Sales (11%).
Legal and Insurance & Superannuation are the only two industries where job ads have risen y/y, up 4.3% and 1.1% respectively.
Every industry has recorded an increase in applications per job ad y/y, in line with job ads falling. Levels have doubled for Information & Communication Technology and Consulting & Strategy roles in the past twelve months.
Applications per job ad in Mining, Resources & Energy are near to peak levels, demonstrating significant competition for roles within this industry.
Table 2: Top five industries for applications per job ad growth (year-on-year)
Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (May 2024 vs April 2024) – Ordered by job ad volume
Photo by RDNE Stock project
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.
NOTES
(1) The SEI may differ to the job ad count on SEEK’s website due to a number of factors including: a) seasonal adjustments applied to the SEI; b) the exclusion of duplicated job ads from the SEI; and c) the exclusion of Company Listings (included under Company Profiles) from the SEI
(2) The Covid-19 pandemic led to a high level of volatility in labour market data between April 2020 and March 2022. As a result, caution is recommended when interpreting trend estimates during this period as large month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks
(3) The applications per ad index contains a series break at Jan 2016 when the calculation of this series changed from using gross variables (inclusive of all SEEK job listings) to net variables (removing duplicate job listings). This change has a negligible impact on recent data points, but caution is recommended when interpreting data immediately following the series break, and particularly in 2016 where growth rates have not been adjusted for the series break.
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.