STATE OF THE NATION:
• SEEK job ads were up 6.5% year-on-year (y/y). This is the third consecutive month of y/y job ad growth.
• The top three industries contributing to y/y growth were Trades & Services, Manufacturing, Transport &
Logistics, and Hospitality & Tourism.
• SEEK job ads were up by 4.0% month-on-month (m/m).
• SEEK Business received a record number of visits and enquiries to buy a business.
STATE OF THE STATES:
• The top three states that contributed the most to y/y job ad growth were Western Australia, Queensland,
and Victoria.
• All states and territories saw a m/m increase in job ads, except Tasmania which had a small drop of 0.7%
• Victoria joins Tasmania, Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland as states
and territories with higher y/y job ad volume.
The first SEEK Employment Report of the year shows continued positive m/m performance with an increase of 4.0% in
national jobs advertised.
In addition to this strong m/m growth, new job ads on SEEK.com.au have increased by 6.5% comparing January 2021
with January 2020.
Kendra Banks, Managing Director, SEEK ANZ, commented: “In a very encouraging start to the year, we are continuing to see positive job ad growth nationally. Traditionally, we would see a drop in new job ad growth throughout December, and into the start of January.
Pleasingly, in 2021, businesses have been looking to hire from the very first week of the year. New job ads posted on SEEK grew 4% month-on-month, and looking at the year-on-year comparison, we have now seen
December 2020 and January 2021 increase by 5% and 6.5% respectively. This is the third consecutive month of year-on-year increases.”
In addition to growth in new job ads, SEEK Business has also experienced a very strong January.
Kendra Banks continued: “SEEK Business is Australia’s most visited business-for-sale marketplace. In January,
seekbusiness.com.au saw a record number for traffic. In a sign of more Australians looking to branch out into business ownership, site visits rose 23% and enquiries were up 45% year-on-year.”
We have previously explained the country is split between two groups as they recover from the impact of COVID, with states and territories recovering from their lowest point in April at different rates. After another strong monthly performance, Victoria has passed its pre-COVID level for new job ads with 1.8% more job ads y/y.
Victoria now joins Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory, as fully rebounding with job ad volumes higher than the same time last year. New South Wales and the ACT are close to this milestone.
