SEEK Employment Report - January

NOTE: SEEK has made an update to the SEEK Employment Index data series. This change includes an update to all historic data dating back to 2001, the beginning of the series. More information about this change can be found here

• Ad volumes jumped 5.1% in January, after three months of decline.

• This marks the highest increase in ad volumes in over three years. 

• All states and territories rose m/m in January, aside from Tasmania (-0.6%).

• South Australia recorded the steepest rise in ad volumes m/m, up 11.4%.

• Rising demand for Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics workers, particularly in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, drove ad volumes up in January. 

• Ad volumes rose m/m in all industries except for Consulting & Strategy (-5.1%). 

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to December data.

“At 5.1% month-on-month, this is the highest jump in ad volumes since October 2021. The increase is likely to be a course correction after three months of declining levels of hiring at the end of 2024, and renewed activity as hirers have a clearer vision for the upcoming year. 

“With significant rises in the Trades & Services and Engineering industries, some of this rising demand can be attributed to resourcing for large infrastructuree projects and increasing demand in the housing market. 

“Based on our data and economist forecasts, we expect job ads to be broadly stable in the short term, so this kind of month-on-month jump is not yet indicative of any great change in trend in the market.”

Job ads rose 5.1% in January, the largest monthly rise since October 2021. This follows three months of declining ad volumes. 

Job ads declined just 7.2% y/y which is the closest margin in two years. 

The rising demand was recorded across the country, except for Tasmania, and in all but the Consulting & Strategy industry. 

Applications per job ad dropped by just 0.1% for the second consecutive month. Levels are still very elevated compared to historical trends meaning that competition among candidates remains very strong. 

All states and territories, except for Tasmania, contributed to the national increase in ad volumes in January. 

Leading the monthly rise was South Australia, where job ads jumped 11.4%, the largest m/m increase the state has recorded in years. January’s increase in ad volume was due to a steep rise in demand for Healthcare & Medical (11.6%) and Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics workers (11.4%). This is the first time in two years job ads have increased y/y in the state, up 2.3%. 

In Western Australia, the 8.5% m/m rise in ad volumes was partly driven by rising demand for Trades & Services (9.5%), Mining, Resources & Energy (12.8%) and Information & Communication Technology workers (18.4%), among other industries.  

In the east coast states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, significant rising demand for Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics workers drove ad volumes up. 

Applications per job ad fell in New South Wales, Tasmania and the Northern Territory m/m, but rose in all other states and in the Australian Capital Territory where levels jumped 8% from the month prior and are 45% higher y/y. Levels are higher across the board y/y.

While all sectors recorded job ad growth in January, the Industrial and Construction sectors were responsible for the largest increases in demand m/m. 

Rising demand for Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics workers, up 10.9% m/m, was a major contributor to overall job ad growth in January. Demand was elevated for most roles within the industry, including Assembly & Process workers (17% m/m), Machine Operators (16% m/m) and Couriers, Drivers and Postal Service workers (16% m/m). 

There was also a 16.0% m/m increase in demand for workers in Engineering m/m, with large jumps in job ads in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. 

Further notable rises include a 9.6% increase in Real Estate & Property and an 8.6% rise in Mining Resources & Energy ads. 

The only industry that did not record m/m job ad growth was Consulting & Strategy, where ads fell 5.1%. 

Applications per job ad increased in Education & Training (14%) with December a logical time for educators to be looking for a change, and in Healthcare & Medical (2%) and Information & Communication Technologies (1%) among other industries. 

The data for this report can be downloaded here. 

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. 

IMAGE CREDIT: Photo by Lex Photography.