July sees more available jobs as stable economic environment boosts employers’ confidence
New data published by IPA recruitment agency on Thursday showed that national job vacancies improved by 13.9 percent in the month of July, the first upswing movement in Australia's employment rate since March of this year.
IPA said that the job surge can be attributed on the employers' regained confidence in a stable employment industrial and employment environment, notwithstanding the result of the August 21 federal elections.
IPA general manager Darrell Hewton said that the usual business environment for the time being should be characterised by uncertainty in light of the looming change of government as "business hates political uncertainty, especially around the future of industrial relations laws."
Mr Hewton noted though that political parties in the upcoming election offered "few policy differences distinguishing the parties and the prospect of a settled IR landscape for the next few years regardless of who wins, employers are relatively relaxed about the result."
He said that employers were generally adopting a cautiously optimistic attitude towards the political environment and there is "less concern about the global outlook and local prospects look encouraging for businesses."
As a result, Mr Hewton said that business owners who opted to halt their hiring from a few months ago have resumed their head hunting activities, signifying that they have sufficient confidence on the economy and could now commit on team expansion for the next 12 months.
He said that employers are currently scrambling to staff positions on many sectors and as Christmas season is fast-approaching, warehousing is emerging as the strongest job segment in July, with considerable performances coming from transport and logistics, finance, accounting and other professional services as well.
Mr Hewton added that with the onset of new mining projects and the mining tax issue's probable resolution, strong demand for resources employment starts kicking in while jobs for human resources and industrial relations specialist also increased in availability.
He said that the country could expect "continued demand for accounting and finance roles along with drivers, general labourers, engineering and trades-related staff for the remainder of this year."