The Sunsuper Australian Job Index has revealed that financial and insurance services were the worst performing industries of 2018 with employment demand dropping by almost 10 per cent.
Sunsuper’s chief economist Brian Parker said it came as little surprise that financial services were among the weakest performing industries in 2018 when it came to employment demand.
“The Royal Commission and its aftermath seem to have an ongoing impact on employment demand and career opportunities in the sector,” he said.
“The only comfort from these results is that demand started to stabilise in the last quarter of 2018 (growing 1.6%) suggesting that the worst may be over and some rebuilding may occur in the year ahead.”
The Sunsuper Job Index tracks and measures digital job advertisements across more than 4,000 sources and is the only Australian jobs report to split data between permanent and contingent (temporary, casual and fixed term contract) job vacancies.
Mr Parker said the standout performer was undoubtedly healthcare and social assistance with 12 successive monthly rises resulting in the job demand increasing by 34.2 per cent.
“The Queensland market ended the year on a high. After a sluggish start to the year job vacancies rose 6.6 per cent in the December quarter driving the index to a record high. The Queensland market is now more diversified and no longer dependent on tourism and construction.
“One of the more critical trends to observe is the lack of growth in job opportunities in Western Australia in 2018. Demand grew just 2.8%, a disappointing result given two previous years of strong recovery and, at least for the earlier part of the year, a strong mining and resources sector.”
He said the US/China trade dispute had damaged confidence in the sector and employment opportunities in Western Australia have suffered as a result with the state recording the highest unemployment statistics in the country.
“These trends suggest another tough year ahead.”
