Job ads in Australia fall 2.5% in February

Australia's labour market is "reasonably tight" as job ads declined in February in the wake of increasing applications per job posting.

The SEEK Employment Report revealed that job ads declined by 2.5% in February and 18.6% year-on-year.

"After two months of rising job ads, volumes fell in February by 2.5%. This was driven by declines in Victoria and New South Wales, where hiring activity across almost all industries has slowed over the past quarter," said Kendra Banks, SEEK ANZ managing director, in a statement.

Victoria reported the biggest decline in monthly job ads, with -3.6%. This is followed by the Australian Capital Territory (-3.4%) and New South Wales (-3.3%).

"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," Banks said.

^{Source: SEEK}

Industry increase in job ads

Only five industries reported a month-on-month increase in job ads in February, with the Banking and Financial Services sector leading with 2.1%, according to the report.

Other sectors reporting an increase include the Advertising, Arts, and Media (1.5%), Information and Communication Technology (0.6%), Science and Technology (0.4%), as well as Sports and Recreation (0.1%).

The biggest decline in job ads was reported in the Insurance and Superannuation sector, with -6.6%. The Human Resources and Recruitment sector also recorded a -1.9% decrease in job ads.

^{Source: SEEK}

Applications per job ad

Meanwhile, applications per job in January went up 2.9% from the previous month and 72.7% year-on-year.

Locations that saw an increase in applications per job ad include Western Australia (7%), New South Wales (5%), Victoria (2%), and Tasmania (2%).

By industry, the biggest increase in applications per job ad were for positions in sectors such as Government and Defence (13%), Banking and Financial Services (10%), Sales (7%), as well as Information and Communications Technology (7%).

"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 said. "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."