Job ad growth has cooled since reaching a ten-year peak last year, with new job ads falling 8.9% nationally compared to April 2018. But the average salary has seen a year-on-year rise of 4.1%, while across the industries, education and health lead the way for growth in new advertised jobs. Find out what the trends could mean for you and your industry in this month’s employment snapshot.
National job ads down on last year’s peak
Job ads have declined by 8.9% compared to 12 months ago—a high point for the decade, explains Kendra Banks, Managing Director SEEK ANZ. “From 2014, we saw consistent growth in job ads which reached a ten-year peak in April 2018,” Banks says. “Due to a range of factors, including easing of the macroeconomic conditions, the rate of job ad growth has cooled since April 2018. This combined with the perfect storm of public holidays, with ANZAC Day and Easter seeing many employees taking increased annual leave and the upcoming election, resulted in April 2019 job ad figures being notably down year on year.”
The decline was seen across the states and territories, with one exception—the Australian Capital Territory saw job ads rise 10.1% compared to April 2018.
Education leads the way for growth
The Education & Training sector leads the industries for job ad growth, with an 11.9% increase in job ads compared to last April. The average advertised salary in Education & Training also saw a boost, up 4.9% year on year to reach $86,140.
Within the sector, Tertiary Teaching roles saw the most growth at 33%, followed by Secondary Teaching with a 21.1% rise, Early Childhood at 13.7% and Childcare and Outside School Hours roles, where job ads rose 10.5% year on year.
Looking more broadly, other industries related to public service also continued to see growth. Healthcare & Medical job ads were up 3.7% compared to the same time last year.
Banks says broader social and economic factors are contributing to the growth in these public service industries. “Education & Training and Healthcare & Medical are less susceptible to economic cycles as these sectors are on a long run structural uptrend,” she says. “The uptrend is fuelled by population growth, international student demand and greater industry demand for qualifications. This means these sectors are likely to top the leaderboard during periods of softening economic growth.”
Mining, Resources & Energy also saw growth in job ad volumes as the chart above shows.
The Advertising, Arts & Media sector experienced the most decline of the industries, with job ads down 24.1% compared to April 2018. Trades & Services and Construction also saw year-on-year declines.
Queensland leads as salaries rise across the country
While job ads slowed, the national average advertised salary continued to rise—it grew 4.1% from last April to reach $87,996.
All the states and territories showed an average salary increase, and Queensland led the way with a 4.6% rise compared to last year. Western Australia saw a 4.0% increase and has the country’s highest average advertised salary of $91,243. The ACT saw a 4.5% rise while the average salary advertised in Victoria was up 4.2%.
Mining, Resources & Energy continued to offer the biggest pay packet of the industries at $124,892, followed by Consulting & Strategy with $114,576 as its average advertised salary. Trades & Services saw the biggest salary rise of the industries, its average growing 6.6% over 12 months to reach $71,824.
