NAB/SEEK: Job Ads At New Record Highs In April

The latest NAB/SEEK employment report notes that “new job ads rose 2.9% M/M in April, further extending record highs in a 4th consecutive month of growth. Overall, jobs ads are an incredible 74.1% higher than pre-pandemic levels, indicating labour demand remains elevated even as employment has more than recovered pre-pandemic levels and the unemployment rate has declined to a near five-decade low.”

• “Strong labour demand continues to be broad based with job ads across all but one sector experiencing positive growth since the pandemic. Hospitality & Tourism continues to lead growth in advertising, with ads almost triple pre-pandemic. Agriculture, Manufacturing and Transport, and Retail have also seen large increases.”
• “Candidate availability (reported with a one month lag) also shows a very tight labour market. An advertised job received only 43% as many applicants as prior to the pandemic. That’s after a further 7.6% M/M fall In the index in March. The low number of applicants is consistent with widespread reports of labour shortages and difficulty finding suitable labour.”