Job ads on job board Seek Australia were up by 15.5% in September 2022 when compared to September 2021.

When compared to the previous month, job ads were down 5.2%. Seek said the additional national public holiday (a national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II) had an impact on hiring activity in September.

Applications per job ad grew 10.3% from July to August, the greatest monthly increase in over two years.

By state and territory, Victoria reported growth of 25.5% over the year, which was followed by New South Wales at 21.8%. Over the month the Northern Territory saw job ads fall 7.5% while Queensland saw job ads dip 5.3%.

Kendra Banks, Managing Director, Seek ANZ, said, “The unexpected national public holiday had an impact on hiring activity in September, resulting in a 5.2% drop in job ad volumes from August. Since May, there have been small declines in ad numbers, but not enough to call an end to the incredibly tight market. All sectors are still at higher job ad volumes than they were pre-pandemic.”

“The incremental market easing has allowed for an increase in candidate application activity, with double digit growth in applications per job ad for the first time since April 2020,” Banks said. “Pre-pandemic, what we would expect to see from August to October is a pickup in hiring for certain industries, particularly those in Retail & Consumer Services and Hospitality & Tourism ahead of the busy holiday season. While we know that demand for staff is greatly outweighing supply for many businesses in these industries, we have not yet seen the usual upward trend in hiring ahead of the end of the year.”

Banks continued, “Over the past two years seasonal trends have been superseded by the impacts of the pandemic, and although we are no longer dealing with lockdowns restricting hiring habits, the consistently tight labour market, paired with increasing economic pressures, means this year has been, and continues to be, an atypical year for the job market.”