JOBS giant Seek has announced the number of job advertisements fell in September, as the global financial crisis began to affect employer confidence.
Tasmanian job ads fell by a record 10.9% last month, as the number of jobs advertised on Seek across Australia fell by 2.2%. New jobs ads have fallen 6.3% since September last year, suggesting a slowing demand for labour.
Employment website Seek carries approximately 50% of jobs advertised in Australia, according to the company.
It said that states and territories experiencing notable declines were the Australian Capital Territory, with 6.6% fewer ads, New South Wales (-4.3%) and Victoria (-4.2%). Job ads fell by 3.6% in Queensland and 1.4% in South Australia.
Advertisements were down in every state and territory except for the Northern Territory, where job ads were up 5.6%, and Western Australia, where there was no change.
“Given the backdrop of turbulence in global financial markets and the flow-on effect to our economy, it’s not surprising to see this spill over into the labour market,” said Seek employment managing director Joe Powell.
“Until we see some stability in global financial markets this nervousness is likely to continue and may have a negative impact on the historically low unemployment levels.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the seasonally adjusted unemployment figures rose by 0.2% in September to 4.3%.
Caroline Ambrosini, managing director of Western Australia-based employment agency Ambrosini Professional Placements, says she has noticed a mixed response to the current environment of economic uncertainty.
“Certainly the larger resource, engineering and construction players are still very busy with recruiting, but some of our smaller clients have put positions on hold with us, for at least until the new year,” she said.
“We are seeing two distinct types of clients – those that have put a hold on things, and those that haven’t yet slowed down at all.
“We are certainly getting a lot more applications from people in the financial services industry, which has created some good opportunities to snap
outstanding candidates up.”
Western Australian employers advertising on Seek had seen a 4.9% increase in applications. It said that jobseekers were drawn to opportunities in the resources and mining sector.
“The market does appear to be turning, with slightly more of the good quality applicants being available to select from,” Ambrosini said.
However, Ambrosini added that employers still had a limited pool of applicants to choose from.
“We are still seeing applicants holding the cards on salary negotiations, with employers being fairly flexible when the outstanding applicants ask or more,” she said.
