Australian job ad volumes are down 18.6% year-on-year in February 2024, according to data from job board Seek.

On a month-to-month basis, job ads declined 2.5% in February.

Applications per job ad rose for 18 consecutive months to February 2024, increasing 2.9% month-on-month and 72.7% year-on-year.

Kendra Banks, Managing Director, Seek ANZ, said, “After two months of rising job ads, volumes fell in February by 2.5% (month-on-month). This was driven by declines in Victoria and New South Wales, where hiring activity across almost all industries has slowed over the past quarter.”

Banks said, “This is not the case in the other states and territories, where industries in some regions are recording growth quarter-on-quarter, such as Construction in Queensland and Banking & Financial Services in Western Australia.” 

“Applications per job ad have been rising consistently for the past 18 months, and in January there were notable increases in Western Australia and New South Wales,” Banks added. “As a result, we have a market that is still reasonably tight, with growing demand in certain industries, but it is a highly competitive space for candidates across the board.”

When comparing to pre-Covid, job ads are now just 1.8% higher than February 2019, and applications per job ad are 50.0% higher. This demonstrates that, while demand for workers has returned to pre-Covid levels, interest among candidates is significantly higher, making for a much more competitive market.

By state, on a year-on-year basis, Victoria saw a 25.3% decrease, followed by New South Wales (-24.6%). Tasmania, the only state that reported an annual increase, saw marginal uptick of 0.1%.

On a monthly basis, aside from Tasmania, which rose 1.1%, all states and territories recorded falling job ads in February. The state of Victoria recorded the steepest fall at -3.6%.

By industry and on a monthly basis, five industries recorded rises in job ads in February: information & communication technology (0.6%), banking & financial services (2.1%), sport & recreation (0.1%), science & technology (0.4%) and advertising arts & media (1.5%).

The greatest monthly declines were in insurance & superannuation (-6.6%), farming, animals & conservation (-6.5%), government & defence (-6.3%) and administration & office support (-6.2%).