Job vacancies in Victoria reach record high in September

The latest Australian Job Index report by Sunsuper has indicated that Victoria and Tasmania have hit a record high in the job vacancies index since the report began in July 2015.

Sunsuper create the index by looking at all online job vacancies in Australia. Duplicate adverts on the same and different websites are removed to ensure each vacancy is only counted once. The adverts are then filtered by occupation, job type, industry and location. The index began at 100 in July 2015.

In the past twelve months Victoria and Tasmania have experienced the greatest increases in job vacancies of the states, with the index rising 19.4 per cent. In comparison to this strong growth, the New South Wales job market has been relatively static, with only 0.8 per cent growth in the last 12 months.

Across Australia, the growth has been strongest in permanent positions as opposed to contingent jobs (casual, contract based). Over the past 12 months the index for permanent positions has increased by 10.3 per cent per cent compared to contingent positions only rising by 1.6 per cent. The Sunsuper report suggests this indicates the job market is looking for more secure, permanent employees to lock in talent.

Looking at the specific occupations, the index has generally decreased for the September quarter, aside from small rises for machinery operators, drivers and professionals. Over the 12 month period, both professionals and trade technicians have experienced the greatest demand, with increases of 12 per cent and 15.2 per cent respectively since September 2017. Lower skilled positions such as administrative roles and labourers have experienced decreased demand, with decreases in the vacancy index of 6.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively over the past 12 months. This suggests a shift to using automation for low skill and process-orientated work.

The education and training industry is at a record high for the September 2018 quarter, along with the public administration and safety, and manufacturing and distribution industries. The financial and insurance industry experienced the weakest demand, with a fall of 13.5 per cent in 12 months and 5.3 per cent in the past three months alone. The retail and wholesale industry also experienced decreases in demand over the past 12 months.