Job ads have been falling every month since January. But salaries are still rising 4.1% annually.
Australia’s job market is sending mixed signals in May 2026, and for small business owners trying to hire or hold onto staff, the detail matters more than the headline.
SEEK’s latest Employment Report shows job ads fell 0.8 per cent from April and have now declined steadily every month since January. Year on year, ad volumes are down 4.5 per cent. That sounds like a cooling market, and in many ways it is. But the picture underneath is more complicated.
The headline numbers
Applications per job ad jumped 3.6 per cent month on month in May and are now 5.5 per cent higher than a year ago. More people are applying for fewer roles, which means competition among candidates is growing.
At the same time, SEEK’s Advertised Salary Index shows annual salary growth holding steady at 4.1 per cent year on year, with a 0.3 per cent rise month on month in May. Salaries are still moving up, just more slowly than before.
Dr Blair Chapman, Chief Economist at SEEK, captures the tension well. “Advertised salaries rose 0.3% in May, leaving annual growth steady at 4.1%. Annual growth remains relatively strong, but the monthly pace has softened in recent months,” Chapman said.
The reason for that softening, he says, is not hard to find. “The recent moderation in monthly advertised salary growth likely reflects a more challenging environment for businesses. Lower confidence, higher costs and increased uncertainty are weighing on hiring conditions, meaning employers are still lifting pay, but doing so more cautiously,” Chapman said.
Who’s hiring, who’s not
The slowdown in job ads is not uniform. It is concentrated in specific industries and regions, and the split is sharp.
Engineering and Science and Technology were the only sectors to record monthly growth in May, both up 2.0 per cent month on month. Construction, Mining, Resources and Energy, and Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics have all grown year on year, driven largely by large-scale infrastructure and build activity.
On the other side, some professional and consumer services sectors are recording double-digit annual declines. Call Centre and Customer Service is down 18.6 per cent year on year. Information and Communication Technology is down 11.7 per cent, and Banking and Financial Services has fallen 12.8 per cent annually.
Geographically, Tasmania was the only state to record job ad growth in May, up 0.8 per cent, driven by construction, industrial hiring, and an 8.0 per cent jump in Education and Training ads. Western Australia remained relatively flat but is the only state showing annual growth, up 0.4 per cent year on year, led by Mining and Construction demand. New South Wales recorded the sharpest monthly decline at 1.3 per cent.
The AI effect on job ads
One of the more significant findings in SEEK’s May report is the growing presence of AI in the jobs market, and what it is doing to which roles get advertised.
References to AI-related skills in job ads rose 2.9 per cent month on month and are up 68.6 per cent year on year. But AI skills remain present in just 1.9 per cent of all job ads, indicating most roles are not yet directly affected.
What is notable is where the job ad declines are heaviest. Roles with high automation exposure are down 8.2 per cent month on month, while roles with low automation exposure continue to grow, albeit slowly at 0.4 per cent month on month.
Chapman is careful not to overstate the AI replacement narrative.
“Job ads in high exposure automation occupations, which includes roles in Professional and Consumer Services, are declining. It is unlikely that AI is directly replacing these jobs, but the inclination to do more with less, and general market hesitation due to macro global factors, are likely coming together to put a pause on new hiring for these types of roles,” he said.
What it costs to hire now
For SME owners, the practical read from this data is straightforward. There are more candidates available than there were a year ago, which is good news for businesses looking to hire. But salary expectations have not dropped with the market. Annual growth of 4.1 per cent means advertised roles are still being priced higher than last year, and candidates are increasingly aware of that.
Chapman’s overall read on May is measured but clear. “Job ad volumes softened in May, with hiring falling across most parts of the country and most industries. While the monthly decline is not especially sharp, it does suggest employers are continuing to act cautiously in the current environment,” he said.
For small business owners, cautious is probably the right word for now. The talent is there. The cost of getting them is still going up. And the sectors doing the most hiring are not the ones most SMEs operate in.
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