Australia’s job market faced a 14.3% decline in the past year, with the December quarter alone seeing a 12.7% drop in advertised positions, according to RCSA’s latest Job Report.
Despite the dip, RCSA CEO Charles Cameron (pictured above) highlighted the resilience of the Australian job market compared to New Zealand, where the national job index plunged by 30.5% over the same period. Cameron attributed Australia's performance to adaptability amid successive interest rate rises and geopolitical uncertainties.
Despite a 14.3% decline in job advertisements over the past 12 months, Australia has demonstrated resilience, successfully steering clear of a recession and maintaining minimal unemployment in the face of a skills shortage.
“While there’s a clear softening it’s important to remember that the country is still adjusting to a new norm after an unprecedented boom in job demand during COVID,” Cameron said. “All things considered; I’d say we are in pretty good shape.”
Permanent job opportunities declined by 16.9%, while demand for flexible workers dropped by 5.3% in the past 12 months. This trend aligns with low business confidence, leading employers to favour flexible work arrangements amidst economic uncertainties.
“A flexible workforce gives an employer the freedom to scale their operations up and down to respond to the economic landscape,” Cameron said. “We have seen this happen over the past year, but it wasn’t until the last quarter that we saw a clear pattern emerge that showed employers were favouring flexible workers.
“Despite the environment, there are a lot of businesses who remain happy to lock down permanent workers for continuity and because we are still experiencing a nationwide skills shortage.”
Although the unemployment rate has inched up by 0.3%, reaching 3.9%, it remained considerably below earlier predictions of hitting 4.5% mid-year. Given the slip in the job index for December, there is a possibility that unemployment might experience a slight uptick in the first quarter of this year.
Cameron suggested that the data collected over the next three months will provide valuable insights into the anticipated trends for the year ahead.
Key highlights from the 2023 Job Report:
For a comprehensive overview, the full Job Report for 2023 is available here.
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