SEEK: Two Rates Of Labour Market Recovery

SEEK note that "in the fortnight ended 23 August 2020, job ad volumes across Australia were 71% of pre-COVID levels. For the first time since restrictions were initially imposed, we have seen some states surpass pre-COVID levels and other states not too far away. Northern Territory and Tasmania have both exceeded pre-COVID levels meaning there are now more jobs on seek.com.au in these states than there were before COVID hit in February. In other welcome news, job ads in Western Australia and South Australia are very close to reaching pre-COVID levels with 99% and 96% respectively. On the other end of the scale, Victoria continues to be impacted by the stage 4 restrictions. The state represents about a fifth of the total job ads for Australia and has a significant impact on the nation's job ad comparison figure. Since the re-introduction of restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne, we have seen a decline in job ads, but this has not been as severe as what we saw in March and April. The number of job ads were 45% of pre-COVID levels, but 59% higher than the low point in April. The fact that job advertising volumes have not declined as much during this second round of restrictions is testament to the resilience and adaptability of business owners, who are being innovative and trying to find ways to continue to operate. New South Wales has the largest labour market and has 69% of pre-COVID levels. This is more than double (108%) the number of jobs available than the low point in April."