SEEK Employment Report - Applications per job ad rose in August

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

“There has been a flattening of the curve for both job ads and applications per job ad over the past quarter.  As job ads ease away from record-high levels, candidate applications are spread less thinly across the great variety in the market, leading to incremental increases in applications per job ad.

“From a quarterly perspective, all sectors have declined compared to the three months prior, though with job ads in most industries still extremely high compared to pre-pandemic levels, this demonstrates a stabilisation of the market from the peaks recorded earlier in the year, rather than a significant downward trend.

“Job ads in all states and territories are tracking ahead compared to August 2019, and should unemployment remain at record-level lows as forecast, we can expect this to be the case for some time.”

NATIONAL INSIGHTS

Jobs ads declined for a third consecutive month, falling 0.6% m/m, according to the latest SEEK employment data, but remain 51.8% higher than August 2019.

All but Victoria and the Northern Territory recorded a monthly drop in job ads, and of the largest industries by volume, Trades & Services increased 1.9%, while Hospitality & Tourism and Healthcare & Medical fell 0.9% and 0.7% respectively.

Applications per job ad rose for the second consecutive month, increasing 3.5% from the month prior, the largest increase to be recorded this year.

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m August 2021 to August 2022

Table 1: National, state and territory job ad growth/decline comparing August 2022 to: i) July 2022 (m/m), ii) August 2021 (y/y) and iii) August 2019.

STATE & TERRITORY INSIGHTS

The only state and territory to record an increase in job ads in August were those that saw the greatest decline the month prior.  Job ads in Victoria rose 3.7% in August after a 4.0% fall in July and ads increased in the Northern Territory by 0.7%. after dropping 7.6% in July.

Small declines in New South Wales (-1.5%) and Queensland (-1.9%) drove the national drop in job ads of 0.6% for the month.

Applications per job ad increased in all states but Tasmania and Queensland where they fell 6.3% and 0.8% respectively.

Figure 2: Major state job ad volumes – August 2019 to August 2022

Figure 3: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by state (August 2022 vs July 2022)

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Trades & Services was the largest industry to record an increase in job ads in August, rising 1.9%

Design & Architecture recorded the greatest m/m growth, up 12.5% from July and Education & Training, driven by a rise in teaching and child education roles, grew by 5.8%.

ICT roles saw the greatest m/m decline, falling 5.0% with job ad levels now very nearly on par with 2019 levels.

Almost all industries have experienced a decline in job ads over the past quarter, but, aside from roles in Banking & Finance, ICT and Legal, job ads remain higher than pre-pandemic levels for every single classification on site.

Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (August 2022 vs July 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.