Workers in the software IT and services sector are back in demand, but those in computer hardware are still seeing tough times, LinkedIn has reported in its latest economic report.

The survey, which compared the share of roles posted on the social media platform between May and July 2020, found the Software and IT Services sector's proportion of job ads had jumped 16 per cent while Hardware and Networking had slumped 24 per cent.

Overall though, job postings on LinkedIn were still down 10 per cent year-on-year, albeit an improvement on the 40 per cent decline earlier this year.

Last week, Australian job search site, Seek, reported job ads on its platform were up 2.3 per cent month-on-month. Over July, Seek's advertised roles in the Information, Communication and Technology sector jumped 7 per cent, slightly behind Construction’s 8 per cent, and Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics’ 9 per cent growth.

Despite July’s growth, Seek reported a year-on-year fall of 30 per cent compared to July 2019.

As a result of the declines, LinkedIn found competition for roles has more than doubled during the year, from 20 applications per job in January to almost 40 applications per job at the beginning of July.

In June, LinkedIn reported Australians were increasingly looking at changing careers, particularly workers in sectors badly hit by COVID-19 shutdowns.

This month, the platform broke out the sectors most likely looking to move industries with workers in the badly-affected Recreation & Travel along with the Entertainment field topping the list of those looking to switch sectors.

Unfortunately details of how many tech workers were considering career changes was not available with a LinkedIn representative telling Information Age, “LinkedIn analysis only captures the 10 industries with the highest “likelihood” numbers.

“So any industry missing from the list means that it is smaller than the smallest likelihood number on this list (in this case, the smallest likelihood number is 0.9). Therefore, the data shows that not as many Software & IT professionals are currently switching roles as other, harder hit industries.”

Last month, the social media platform released a survey of nearly 4,000 Australians measuring how people were feeling about keeping their current job, improving their financial situation, and advancing their careers.

Sitting well above the national average, software and IT professionals neared the top of the workforce confidence list, behind the transport and logistics, finance, and mining and energy industries.

Globally, the survey found Australia’s pandemic recovery has underperformed compared to other countries with France and the US seeing their overall job search growth moving back into positive territory while the UK had the poorest results.

On the findings, Matt Tindale, LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand’s Country Manager, commented, “there is no doubt that COVID-19 has hit the Australian economy hard, and while there are signs of recovery, we have to put it in context. An unprecedented number of people have lost their jobs as a result of this pandemic, and it will likely take some time before we get back to the levels of growth and strength we saw before the pandemic hit.”