Australian Employment Market Update
Released 14.10.19
The end of last month is seeing a small surge in hiring needs in some pockets. This may be more a result of our marketing than the overall market. Over the course of the month though we have seen the following:
Trades
Recruitment for industrial manufacturers is experiencing a large surge. Metal fabricators, CNC machinists, fitters and turners and welders being the most popular.
Seasonal Summer blue collar work for industries related to Air Conditioning and fire fighting is going well. NBN installers and excavators are still being highly sought
Electricians interestingly are becoming less popular. Ares we expect growth in next month are Automotive and building trades.
Engineering
Regional civil works is being the shining light in the construction industry, while new building construction has dropped. Systems, Material, Chemical, and Mechanical Engineers for Defence are in demand. Victoria’s construction market remains active. Infrastructure is driving vacancy activity with projects such as the Melbourne Metro Rail requiring staff, while the commercial construction sector has picked up. As a result, construction professionals at all levels are in demand, from high-level Design Engineers to experienced Delivery Engineers on roads, tunnels, bridges and rail. Construction Engineers with rail and road experience are also required given current project activity. Experienced Contract Administrators, Design Managers and Site Managers in civil infrastructure and the commercial market are also sought. The construction building industry is very healthy, particularly in education and health. All construction skills are in demand, from Site Forepersons to Project Engineers and Project Managers. In NSW, Site Managers and Supervisors with $150m+ project experience remain highly sought after as projects in the commercial, health and transport sectors increase in size across the CBD. Within Canberra, continuing staffing shortages are evident. In greatest demand are Project Managers with large-scale commercial experience and Site Managers, Project Engineers and Contract Administrators for health, education and infrastructure projects. In Tasmania, strong economic growth coupled with heightened investment in infrastructure, renewables and accommodation developments ensures ongoing high demand, particularly for Project Managers and Contract Administrators.
Government
Most contract renewals have been signed up now. The new contracts we are seeing are in Defence R&D and IT.
IT
Full Stack .Net Developers and Full Stack Java Developers remain in high demand across start-ups, SMEs and large enterprises. DevOps Engineers from a development background are in high demand as employers see the additional benefits that a strong coding background can offer. Cyber security and Cloud experts are highest demand.
Finance
Demand has continue to drop in this sector. Over a third of employers contacted intend to increase their permanent accountancy & finance staff levels this financial year. Demand for Professional Practice professionals we expect to remain within healthy levels for the remainder of 2019. We expect the the lending job market will remain active throughout the second half of 2019. Change is coming to the Australian financial services sector with the Banking Royal Commission acting as the catalyst that will see organisations become far more accountable and transparent.This has led to a massive spike in demand for risk and compliance professionals. We expect the need for the following professionals to hit an all-time high this financial year. The wealth management job market will remain active throughout the second half of 2019, with 47% of employers indicating they intend to increase permanent staff levels. This is despite decision of the big 4 to sell their wealth management businesses, leading to subsequent mass redundancies.
Weekly change in total number of jobs advertised on major job boards
Australian recruitment software provider, Perform Zone, monitors the number of new job adverts placed on Australia’s top 3 job boards. Pundits are predicting falls in advertised jobs based on tighter financial conditions in the USA, soft domestic consumer sentiment and business forward orders, and a weak outlook for prospective economic activity in Australia.
Last 30 days of adverts posted on major job boards around Australia
