Employment falls, while job ads rise

While new research from SEEK revealed job advertisements have increased month on month by 0.8 per cent and have been steadily growing for four months, the ABS has found that while full-time employment numbers decreased, part-time employment rose.

A similar positive growth trend in job advertisements was found in SEEK’s report published last month, which revealed an increase in job advertisements by 0.2 per cent.

SEEK senior economist Dr Blair Chapman said: “Employment continues to grow, and the unemployment rate remains low by historical standards.”

Based on its findings, month on month, job ads grew by 0.8 per cent; the market experienced a year-on-year decrease of 2.8 per cent, which was its smallest annual decline since November 2022.

In conjunction with these figures, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released research yesterday (18 September) that showed a fall in employment numbers.

ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said: “Employment fell by 5,000 people, and the number of unemployed fell by 1,000 people in August.

“This meant that the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent whilst the participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 66.8 per cent.”

More opting for part-time work

Additionally, ABS noted that full-time employment numbers dropped by 41,000 people and part-time employment rose by 36,000 people.

These figures echoed a story by HR Leader in March that revealed a growing part-time labour market – a group of people seeking a more balanced lifestyle, said KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley.

“Hours worked fell 0.4 per cent in August, supported by fewer people working full-time hours this month,” Crick said.

Further, ads for Christmas jobs were found to be fewer this month, year on year.

Despite employers posting fewer job ads for the Christmas period, the research by Indeed found that demand remained high, with jobseekers applying for Christmas jobs earlier and at a higher rate than last year.

“On September 10, 1.6 per cent of searches on Indeed were for Christmas jobs, up from 1.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent in 2024 and 2023, respectively,” Indeed said.

Best-performing industries

Based on its findings, SEEK said, in July and August, job advertisements in community services and development increased by 2.4 per cent.

“Demand for workers in employment services and aged and disability support is driving ongoing demand within the community services and development industry, which has seen the fastest growth this month and this year,” Chapman said.

The month-on-month increase in job ads in hospitality and tourism (3.6 per cent) and trades and services (2.3 per cent) in NSW played a key role in the state’s third consecutive month of job ad growth.

“We also start to see more businesses step up their seasonal hiring activity at this time, ahead of the busy Christmas and summer period. This appears to be the case in Victoria and New South Wales, with hospitality and tourism ad volumes jumping notably in August,” Chapman said.

Professional services was the only sector that had a fall in job ads month on month (-0.5 per cent) and quarter on quarter (-1.8 per cent).

“Trades and services demand has also been steadily rising since April, making this the longest period of growth for the industry since early 2022. At the same time, applications per job ad increased by 0.7 per cent, pushing volumes to the highest level in SEEK’s history,” it said.

Chapman concluded: “August is traditionally the month where job ads peak in Australia, as businesses get into the swing of the new financial year and ramp up hiring activity. But as SEEK adjusts for these seasonal shifts, this 0.8 per cent rise marks an even larger rise than usual.”