NAB/SEEK Employment Report: Job Ads Hit Record Highs Again In March

The latest NAB/SEEK employment report notes that “new job ads rose 5.0% m/m in March, following two consecutive months of strong gains. The increase in the month sees job ads at another new record high in the 23 year history of the Seek data. Overall, jobs ads are 67.5% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Note the timing of Easter may have impacted seasonals in the month, but overall job ads have been very strong in the first quarter of 2022. In the month, job ad growth was seen across all states and territories.”

• “Strong labour demand continues to be broad based with job ads across all but one sector experiencing positive growth since the pandemic. The level of advertising remains most pronounced in Hospitality & Tourism, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics and Agriculture.”
• “Candidate availability (reported with a one month lag) also shows a very tight labour market with around 53% fewer applications for each job advertisement than was the case prior to the pandemic. In February candidate availability fell 4.5%. As migration picks up some of the acute labour market pressure is expected to start to ease.”
• “The international border re-opening is starting to see a pickup in net migration into Australia with the recent 2022-23 Budget noting that since the border started to re-open in November 2021, more than 130,000 international students, 70,000 skilled migrants and 10,000 working holiday makers have entered Australia.”