Australia’s tech sector posted a year-on-year decline in job ads in November, with advertised roles on Seek down 11.8% compared to the same month in 2018.
November’s figures continue 2019’s trend which has seen the ICT sector report year-on-year falls every month except January, which reported a 0.4% increase.
However those finding jobs saw pay rises with advertised tech salaries rising 4.4% year-on-year.
The ICT sector was far from the worst November performer, with Design & Architecture slumping 26.6% and Advertising, Arts & Media seeing a 23.2% year-on-year fall.
Overall, Seek reported the national jobs market was down 8.4% while salaries had grown 2.1.%.
The public sector again had the strongest jobs growth on Seek with the Community Services & Development jumping 14.6%, Healthcare & Medical seeing a 5.0% increase, and Education & Training growing 3.0%.
Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ said of November’s results, “The top three sectors contributing to job ad growth remain unchanged for the month, with Community Services & Development, Healthcare and Education and Training posting near record high job ad volumes.
“Although we’re nearing the end of the year, these sectors continue to offer many opportunities for job seekers. For example, Education and Training has a strong demand for secondary and primary teachers, and childcare and after school carers.
“The Healthcare and Medical sector is showing demand for general practitioners, aged care nurses and psychologists, counsellors and social workers. We anticipate this demand will continue into the new year.”
Regionally, the larger states all saw large falls in job ads with NSW falling 14.1%, Victoria 8.4% and Queensland dropping 5.3%.
The ACT was the strongest performer with a 2.3% increase while Tasmania and WA reporting 1.7% and 1.2% gains respectively. SA fell 1.7% while the Northern Territory slumped 11.2%.
Seek’s Banks said the larger states’ falls were due to them coming from a high base.
“When we look at our state-by-state breakdown we see declining ad volume in the large employing states as they come down from historically high levels.
"There is still a huge number of employment opportunities across NSW with over 40,000 listed in Sydney right now and in Victoria over 33,000 job opportunities in Melbourne.
"The smaller states are ticking along with some encouraging growth coming out of regional areas. This is particularly evident in Western Australia where Albany, Great Southern, Bunbury are posting double digit monthly job ad growth. Northam and the Wheatbelt are also showing good job opportunities. Healthcare and Medical and Mining, Resources and Energy appear to be the industries driving the opportunities”.
In 2018, Seek reported ICT was the second biggest contributor to job ads growth with a 12% increase for the year which saw the overall employment market grow 8.6%.
2019’s final figures will be released in late January.
