Australia’s job market ripe for migrant talent

While job ads continue to soar across Australia, the number of applicants applying for these jobs continue on a downward trend, reveals a new SEEK survey. The findings from November 2021 indicated a 50% jump in job ads in comparison to a year ago, with a higher increase (+51.8%) in comparison to a pre-pandemic November 2019.

In a reverse trend to the rise in job ads, the number of applications per job dropped by 9.4% month-on-month, vs a 1.1% month-on-month increase in jobs ads. In fact, applications per job declined by 51.8% in comparison to November 2019.

“Even a nominal 1.1% increase in job ads speaks volumes about the state of the market, with the lead-up to Christmas traditionally a time where businesses scale back on talent hiring. Instead, we had more job ads on our site than ever before,” said SEEK ANZ’s Managing Director, Kendra Banks.

She added that while not all states and territories experienced an increase in job ads from October to November, “demand across the nation remains higher than pre-pandemic levels”.

The sectors experiencing the highest boost in job ads include advertising, and arts and media.

The state-wise break-up found Victoria to be leading the trend, with the highest annual increase at 63.2%. Among other states, month-on-month data revealed a jump across the Northern Territory (4.3%), Victoria (3.6%), Queensland (3.3%), Tasmania (2.7%) and South Australia.

As Australia lifts border restrictions for skilled labourers and students overseas today, migrants have a huge opportunity to capitalise on these open positions.

Talking to the media, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt stated, "So, we said on 29 November that we're intending to reopen on 15 December - that has been through the National Cabinet process...The borders will be reopened both to Korea and to Japan and for skilled migration and for students as we conclude the pause that we announced several weeks ago.”

While job applications from local talent continue to dip, whether the soaring vacancies offer the right mix of opportunity, benefits and security to migrant talent remains to be seen.