SEEK Employment Report - November

• Job ads fell for a second month, declining 1.1% from October. 

• Applications per job ad rose 3.4%, the largest increase since April. 

• All the large states contributed to the national decline, with Western Australia, and Victoria, the biggest contributors to the overall decline.

• Tasmania (5.6%), the Australian Capital Territory (2.4%) and South Australia (0.3%) recorded job ad growth m/m. 

• Most industries recorded a decline in ad volumes in November, with the exception of Community Services & Development (1.6%), Information & Communication Technology (1.6%) and three others.

• Seven industries recorded slightly higher ad volumes y/y including Consulting & Strategy (5.5%). 

“Job ads have been more stable over the past twelve months than at any other time in the past five years. 

“Ad volumes have continued to decline, down another 1% in November, but the rate of decline has slowed considerably and there have been pockets of growth over the past year in industries such as Consulting & Strategy and Real Estate & Property, among others. 

“Applications per job ad, which indicate candidate interest in the jobs available, have jumped again month-on-month and have not been this high since the start of COVID.”

Job ads declined, only marginally, for a second consecutive month, falling 1.1%. Y/y the decline in job ads reduced to its slowest pace in almost two years, now 8.4% down on November 2023.

While the decline has been consistent across both metro and regional areas y/y, of late the cities have fallen quicker than the more rural areas, dropping 2.3% q/q compared to 0.8% in the regions. 

Applications per job ad rose 3.4%, the largest rise since April. 

The four largest states and the Northern Territory recorded job ad decline in November, led by Western Australia (-3.2%) and Victoria (-2.3%). 

Ad volumes in Tasmania jumped 5.6%, the largest monthly increase in almost two years. This was due to rising demand in several industries, including Community Services & Development (6.7%), Hospitality & Tourism (5.8%) and Healthcare & Medical (4.6%).

The Australian Capital Territory (2.4%) and South Australia (0.3%) were the only other regions where job ads rose. 

In general, ad volumes in Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia have remained relatively flat all year, with only slight y/y declines. The national decline in job ads has been driven largely by falling demand in New South Wales and Victoria.

In comparison to November 2019 (pre-COVID) most states and the Northern Territory are now recording greater job ad volumes.  The only exceptions being, the Australian Capital Territory (-26.5%), Victoria (-15.4%) and New South Wales (-10.8%). 

Five industries recorded an increase in ad volumes in November, but for most, the rise was only small and comes off the back of a decline in October. 

Job ads in Consulting & Strategy, a relatively small industry, rose 6.7% after declining for the full quarter prior. Ad volumes in Community Services & Development rose 1.6% m/m after two months of decline.

Demand for Information & Communication Technology workers continued to be broadly flat, rising 1.6% in November, but with volumes significantly lower than 2019 levels. 

For the first time this year, job ads in Retail & Consumer Products have declined for two consecutive months, dropping a further 3.9% in November. Ad volumes in Hospitality & Tourism also declined for a second month falling 4.0%, but remain 8% higher q/q. 

Despite a broad decline in ad volumes all year, some industries are recording slightly higher ad volumes compared to November 2023, including Consulting & Strategy (5.5% y/y) and Real Estate & Property (4.9% y/y).

Applications per job ad rose in most industries m/m, inlcuding in Education & Training (8%), Legal (10%) and Healthcare & Medical (6%). 

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 The Coach Space