Job vacancies are on the decline around Australia and job seekers are struggling to find a new role, but that all may be about to quickly change.

That’s the message from Gartner HR practice vice-president of advisory, Dion Love, based on new data on Australian job seekers and the ever-changing global economy.

The data from a new report by Gartner HR, based on a survey of nearly 3,500 job seekers including nearly 200 from Australia, points to a softening labour market, with job hunters finding it difficult to secure their next role.

According to the survey, more than one in three Australian job seekers – 39 per cent of respondents – are struggling to find a new position, and just over a quarter said they can’t find many jobs that matched their skill sets.

This points to a softening market, Love said, but Australian companies shouldn’t get complacent, and job seekers should have hope that this situation may soon change.

“We are seeing evidence of softening in Australia but that may change in a heartbeat,” Love told Information Age.

“There’s more candidate commitment and that is coming from a softening labour market, but for how long?

“There’s been a rate cut in September in the US and another in November, and there are murmurs of a rate cut in Australia, so is that softening going to sustain?
“My sense is it’s not, particularly when you see the US market is on a tear and Australia is following suit.

“That creates the appetite for talent that we haven’t seen in some time.

“It is a reasonable hypothesis that it’s going to heat up again, and very quickly.”

Job hunters back their values

While there are current difficulties in finding a new job, more than 40 per cent of those surveyed said that they had declined a job offer because it didn’t meet their expectations.

And nearly 70 per cent of Australian candidates said they had dropped out of a job application process because there was a mismatch in employee value proposition preferences, in terms of compensation and benefits, flexibility in working hours, skills development, and team diversity.

“It’s not like you’re walking into a candy store and there’s nothing there you want, but you still get something – you’re just not into candy,” Love said.

The data also backs up a long-running trend in the Australian workforce: work-life balance is paramount.

“The main thing that is important in Australia is work-life balance – that is number one,” Love said.

“Companies today have to have a story on work-life balance.

“My message is to figure out how your employees define work-life balance and make sure you’ve got a story that addresses that.”

The Gartner survey also revealed that just over a quarter of Australian job candidates received multiple offers during their last job search, and of those who did find a new role, a third said they were still open to other offers after this.

Just over 20 per cent of those surveyed said they believed they could find a better job if they continued to search, after they had secured a role.

A tightening market

The latest research backs up the findings of a recent report by SEEK, which found the number of people applying for tech jobs in Australia has more than doubled in the last two years, and the number of roles being posted is on the decline.

The report found that the number of tech jobs being listed has now fallen to below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, and that it is now taking 10 weeks longer for the average job seeker to find a new role, with growing competition for the jobs that are on offer.

The data also showed that the Australian labour market has loosened since late 2021 but was still tighter than it was prior to the onset of the pandemic.