Australia’s recruitment rises by 6.2% in October

Recruitment activity in Australia rose by 9,100 or 6.2% to a total of 155,000 job advertisements nationwide in October, according to the latest jobs report by the Australian government. 

The latest figures indicate that job advertisements across three job boards – SEEK, CareerOne and Australian JobSearch – have increased for the sixth consecutive month. 

However, job advertisements have fallen by 2.3% year-on-year, largely driven by three of the eight broad occupational groups seeing less roles on a year-on-year basis: Managers. down by 20.3% or 4,100 job advertisements; Clerical and Administrative Workers, down by 18.8% or 5,000 job advertisements; and Professionals, down by 6.9% or 3,400 job advertisements.

For the month, occupational groups that saw the highest increase were: Sales Workers, up by 11.6% or 1,300 job advertisements; Labourers, up by 10.7% or 1,100 job advertisements; and Community and Personal Service Workers, up by 9.9% or 1,400 job advertisements.

READ: Australia sees uptick in jobs for October, surpassing forecasts

In particular, job advertisements for Labourers, Machinery Operators and Drivers, Community and Personal Service Workers and Technicians and Trades Workers now exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. 

Labourers are now higher in demand, with job advertisements at their highest level in more than two years. In Queensland and Western Australia, advertisements for the role are reaching their highest levels in more than seven years, said the National Skills Commission.