Demand for skilled workers around Australia has climbed to epic proportions, a new government report confirms, with internet job advertisements up a whopping 54 per cent in January compared to pre-Covid levels.
The National Skills Commission report released on Wednesday showed online job ads were up 4.4 pexjmtzywr cent last month compared to December, with employers seeking to fill 259,000 positions – a 13-year high.
Commonwealth Bank economists think annual wages growth will be around 3 per cent by the middle of this year.
“Our internal data, capturing salaries paid into CBA bank accounts, indicates that wages growth has accelerated in the early part of 2022,” Mr Felsman said.
“Considering job hopping or job switching? Now is the time to negotiate better pay and conditions.”
Interestingly, average job ad growth in the regions outpaced capital cities compared to pre-pandemic levels, up 71 per cent versus 34.2 per cent.
The majority of recruitment activity remains concentrated in capital cities, however, with the most job ads in Sydney and Melbourne.
Regional areas with the highest growth in job ads compared to pre-Covid included Tamworth and North West NSW, Gippsland in Victoria, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, North West Tasmania and Western Australia’s South West.
“The ‘Great Regionalisation’ continues with a near record level of recruitment activity outside of major capital cities,” CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said.
“There were a record 3702 vacancies in Bendigo and High Country, Victoria to begin 2022.”
By occupation, there was huge demand for machinery operators and drivers, and sales assistants and salespeople.
He said all eyes would be on the latest labour force report due on Thursday, with CBA economists expecting the unemployment rate will have fallen from a 13-year low of 4.2 per cent in December to a near 14-year low of 4 per cent in January.
