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Australia – Healthcare and medical job adverts offsetting continuing mining and resources declines

16 April 2015

The number of new jobs advertised in Australia increased by 6.7% in March 2015 compared with the same month last year, according to the SEEK Employment Index. Month-on-month, however, job adverts increased by a modest 0.2%.

Minor increases in job advert levels were recorded in South Australia (2.1%), Queensland (0.9%), and Victoria (0.4%) during March compared with February. Western Australia, however, recorded another decline with a decrease of 3.8%, predominately driven by the slowdown in the mining and resources sector.

Michael Ilczynski, Managing Director of Employment at SEEK, commented: “Although Mining wanes, the exceptional growth in Medical and Healthcare roles in Western Australia is a direct flow on effect from the steep population growth the boom brought with it a few years back.”    

All eight states reported growth in new job adverts for Healthcare and Medical, outpacing average job advert growth across all industries; with the exception of South Australia, which is still tracking at subdued levels despite having strong growth in the industry.

Healthcare and Medical job adverts rose nationally by 14% in March 2015, compared with the same month last year.

Western Australia led the way with Healthcare and Medical job growth up by 42% in March 2015 compared with last year. This significant spike in labour demand comes off the back of increased investment by the State and Commonwealth Government and other parties to cope with the growing population spurred by the mining boom; Perth’s population is expected to increase by more than 500,000 by 2031.

In partnership with the Commonwealth Government and other partners, the Government of Western Australia is investing more than AUD 7 billion (USD 5.3 billion) over a 10-year period to build new hospitals and health centres, and improve existing facilities.

In other states, growth in Healthcare and Medical jobs was strong with South Australia up by 14%, New South Wales up by 12%, Queensland up by 10%, and Victoria up by 9% in March 2015, compared with last year.

Mr Ilczynski, said “as one of Australia’s largest employing industries it’s encouraging to see an increase in job opportunities across all states – particularly for those who are interested in seeking careers in this field.”

“For those who are actively looking for jobs in this industry our application data tells us that the easiest roles for hirers to fill in the Healthcare and Medical industry are Chiropractic roles, Medical Administrators and Dentists. This means those looking for these jobs are likely to have a lot of competition from other job seekers.

“On the flipside the hardest roles to fill, based on number of applications per job, are in Midwifery, Paediatric Nursing and Nurse Educator roles. Job seekers looking for careers in these areas are likely to have less competition from other job seekers,” Mr Ilczynski concluded.