Hardest Hit Job Sectors Bouncing Back....
The job sectors that were hardest hit during the economic downturn are the ones picking up the most now, says Olivier director Bob Olivier.
Olivier has re-launched its monthly sectoral job market reports as part of its Job Index, coinciding with positive signs in the employment market and a 3.6 per cent national rise in job ads.
Banking and finance
Jobs in the financial services sector rose by 7.1 per cent in September, after a 2.8 per cent rise in August. Olivier notes: "There's a long way to go to get back to where we were 12 months ago... but these are solid steps in the right direction."
The bulk of the recovery is occurring in NSW and Victoria, and for the first time in many months all sub-sectors enjoyed jobs growth.
Demand was strongest for analysts (particularly business and financial analysts, +19.9%), client services (12.4%), corporate finance and investment banking (7.4%) and retail banking (7%).
Accounting
The accounting sector has been at the forefront of the jobs recovery, Olivier says, and actually recorded a 0.6 per cent fall in September, following a "robust" four per cent rise the previous month.
"Our 'coal face' experience indicates the accounting job market is improving with smaller local employers more active than large international businesses."
State-by-state performance is a "mixed bag", he says, with WA and SA accounting for most of the gains, but Victoria's 5.2 per cent fall "surprising given the general recovery".
Corporate accounting jobs picked up in September (+4.6%), but chartered jobs took a 3.9 per cent dive.
"The smaller practices are quite active but a lack of 'specials'/transactional work in the Big Four and mid tiers are limiting opportunity," Olivier says. "Because attrition has been low for the past 12-24 months we expect opportunities in the bigger firms, particularly in audit, to be very limited for some time. Even the insolvency firms are slowing their hiring as the widely anticipated SME collapses fail to materialise."
Office support
The office support sector outperformed the market with a 9.8 per cent rise in jobs in September. Combined with the previous month's 14.4 per cent rise, it is the fastest-growing sector in the country, Olivier says.
Along with banking and finance, office support roles were worst affected by the downturn and remain 59.6 per cent below September 2008 levels.
But all states bar Tasmania are rebounding strongly, across all segments of the market. PA/executive assistant roles rose by 15 per cent (following 14.5% in August) while data entry roles were up 6.2 per cent.
Some 75 per cent of roles advertised were full time, while 15 per cent were temporary.
HR
HR jobs rose by 8.1 per cent, following August's 4.7 per cent rise. Over the last quarter HR jobs have risen 16.4 per cent, but are 58.2 per cent lower in number than 12 months ago.
Working off a low base makes the percentage rise appear more "spectacular", Olivier says. As well, "business confidence is boosting hiring numbers and the 'catch up' factor is driving faster decisions. In HR it may well be that the Fair Work Act is creating fresh employment opportunities in SMEs".
Recruitment jobs rose by 9.5 per cent, to be 64.3 per cent lower than last year. "The 9.5 per cent rise in this category demonstrates the overall improvement in the job market and shows a remarkable change in fortune. It is possible that the number of consultants forced to return to the UK when they were retrenched will lead to shortages."
Demand for OHS jobs rose 16.3 per cent (-58.9% over the year). General HR jobs and HR management positions continued to fall (-1.9% and -0.3% respectively), but at a slower rate than the previous month.
Sales, marketing and retail
In the sales and marketing category (which includes customer service and retail), jobs rose by 6.5 per cent in September and it was the largest contributor to the 3.58% national increase. The rise exceeds the 2.8 per cent increase last month and shows that the occupations covered in this broad category are enjoying a strong recovery, Olivier says.
"There is pretty consistent growth across all states and territories with the notable exception of South Australia where job growth is a remarkable 26.2% seasonally adjusted. Tasmania is the only state in negative territory and as a smaller employer has little impact on the overall trend."
Some 87 per cent of the jobs advertised in this sector are permanent full-time.