Demand for workers remains strong, although the number of job ads is falling away from recent highs.(ABC News: John Gunn)
Some employers are still struggling to fill vacancies, but the latest data hints that the COVID jobs boom is coming to an end.
Australia's official unemployment rate has remainedat 3.5 per cent, afterthe creation of just 900 extra jobs in September.
The fall in unemployment over the past couple of years to the lowest level in almost half a century has created opportunities for many people.
After about 20 years as a stay-at-home mum raising her four children, Christine Simon decided this was the year she wouldrejoin the workforce.
After seeking helpfrom Aboriginal employment agency AMES Australia, which helped her into a short training coursewith labour hire and training firm Programmed,Ms Simon recently qualified as a forklift driver and secured a job in a warehouse in Sydney's west.
Christine Simon is loving the independence and feeling of control she has in her new job as a forklift driver.(ABC News: Dan Irvine)
I've walked in, I got a forklift ticket here, then after thattheyoffered me a job straight awaydoing a forklift role, which I was ecstatic about, she told The Business.
For Ms Simon, the very tight jobs market created opportunities that did not exist previously.
I went to a job agency a couple of years ago and I've knocked on the door and I saidI'dbeen a stay at home mum for a period of time and they've just said 'sorry, we've got nothing for you' and theyclosed the door in my face, she said.
And there are still plenty of employment opportunities for people with in-demand skills.
Arup Australasia co-chairKate West and WA Group Leader, Emson Makita hope more people will study STEM at a tertiary level to address the skills shortage they predict is here for years to come.(ABC News: West Matteeussen)
Since first working on the Sydney Opera House 50 years ago, multinational engineering and professional services firm Arup has employed thousands of Australians.
Right now, the company is trying to fill about 200 roles,or 10 per cent of its local workforce.
We really are seeing tighteningin the skills market, which is affecting both our productivityand our ability to deliver here and now into the future, Arup Australasia co-chair Kate West told The Business.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-20/unemployment-abs-september-2022/101556176
Arup Australasia co-chairKate West says the skills shortage is a fundamental challenge for employers.(ABC News: West Matteeussen)
We're certainly seeing demand for engineers at an all-time high.
At the same time, the supply of qualified workers remains low, with Australia'shard border policy is still being felt by businesseslike Arup.
We're really challenged both by the migration tap been turned off during COVID and we're yet to see that migration really kickback in again, Ms West said.
But we're also seeing a declining number of people move into engineering, so a declining number of people study engineering at university and then translate that into the workforce.
Jobs market 'starting to sputter'
But there are early signs that the balance between demand for staff and the supply of available workers is shifting.
Around 9,000 extra people became unemployed last month, according to theBureau of Statistics estimates, but that was not quite enough to push the unemployment rate higher due to rounding.
The ABS figures also showed a net addition of just 900 jobs in September.
While employment growth has slowed in recent months, there are still close to half-a-million people entering employment each month, and around the same number leaving employment each month, the ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis observed.
But the number of jobs being advertised is falling away from record highs.
Source: Seek
The latest Seek Employment Report shows the number of job ads was down 5.2 per cent in September.
However, job ads arestillsignificantly higher than before the pandemic.
The labour market in Australia remains extremely tight, Seek's managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Kendra Banks, said.
Kendra Banks says Seek is seeing an increase in the number ofapplicants per job.(ABC News: Simon Tucci)
We've seen job ads on Seek remain more than 40 per centhigher than we saw before the pandemic and that's really across almost every industry and almost every state and territory as well.
Employers across the countryare finding it very difficult to find the staff they need.
But perhaps less difficult than a few months ago, with increasing jobseeker activity.
While the number of jobs being advertised is falling, the number of people applying for those advertised roles is rising at the fastest rate in two years.
We've seen applications per ad on Seek go up 10 per cent between Julyand August, Ms Banks observed.
We're seeing great signs of increased job seeker activity, more people applying and applying to slightly more jobs when they do.
CommSec's senior economist Ryan Felsman said this was related to an increasing return of migrant workers.
The reopening of Australia's international border has fuelled growth in the working-age population, he said.
The expected return of foreign workers is helping to increase worker supply, with the working-age population estimate lifting to a growth rate of 1.2 per cent in September, just below pre-pandemic levels of around 1.7 per cent.
After close to two years of largely closed international borders, international arrivals are ramping back up towards pre-COVID levels.(ABC News: Benjamin Gubana)
Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics said the data providedfurther evidence that Australia's jobs market was starting to sputter.
The sharp slowdown in employment growth vindicates the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to slow the pace of policy tightening, he noted.
But we doubt it will prevent the bank from hiking its cash rate further.
After all, our composite measure of job vacancies suggests that the unemployment rate will remain around the current very low levels for a while yet.
COVID absences fall sharply
The data also showed Australians worked 1million fewerhours last month, but that was a decline of less than 0.1 per cent as COVID-19 absences dropped off dramatically from their winter peaks.
Some of the slowing in hours worked reflected a higher-than-usual number of people taking annual leave in September. This follows the past two Septembers, when there were lower-than-usual numbers of people taking leave, given COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions, Mr Jarvis said.
The number of people working fewer hours because they were sick was also higher than we usually see in September, but only around 14 per cent higher.
It is no longer around two to three times higher, as it was earlier in 2022.
With fewer workers absent through illness, this is likely to be another factor seeing demand for extra workers drop off.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-20/unemployment-abs-september-2022/101556176
