Business / Economy

Job ads fall 8% but demand for labour remains high - Seek

05:53 am on 16 December 2022

Photo: 123rf

An easing in the labour market looks likely in the year ahead as the number of job applicants begins to increase and the number of ads decline.

Figures from the website Seek indicate the number of applications rose 4 percent last month on October, while the number of ads fell 8 percent over the same period.

The company said ad levels reached record-levels in the first half of the year, with a peak of more than 38,000 on the site in May.

While the number had since eased back month on month, Seek country manager Rob Clark said demand for labour remained high.

"Demand has been high in all industries, but especially so for consumer-facing roles, notably hospitality and tourism and retail and consumer products," Clark said.

"As candidates have been in the driver's seat all year, employers have been pulling new levers to try to attract applications, with work-from-home growing exponentially in the job ad lexicon, and references to sign-on bonuses growing over 300 percent."

However, he said there was good news for employers, as immigration settings would see more workers entering the labour market.

"It's good news for hirers because obviously they want more candidates to choose from," he said.

"For a candidate, it's still a good market, because there are still a large number of jobs out there.

"So we we're getting to that point where it's going to be good news for both sides of the equation."