The Australian job ads market is on the move with growth strong in a number of sectors lacking in gender diversity. But which industries were hottest in 2016 and will they be trending now in the New Year?
According to jobs website SEEK, the male-dominated tech sector saw the largest job advertising growth over the past 12 months, followed by professionals in traditionally female roles such as nurses and emergency services, along with engineers – which is predominately male.
While all three of these industries have a mix of male and female employees, there remains an overall lack of gender diversity in each sector, largely as a result of historical stereotypes and job flexibility, which is slowly changing.
Australia’s growing population and increasing life expectancy are the main reasons for helping fuel growth across engineering, emergency services, medical and nursing roles.
The tech sector is booming as part of a global thirst for human innovation.
“We don’t expect demand on SEEK to slow any time soon across these top jobs of 2016, as Australians will always need new and or improved infrastructure and people to care for us at all stages of life,” said SEEK Spokesperson Kendra Banks.
Nationally, emergency service jobs on SEEK increased 47.59 per cent, while ambulance paramedics jobs rose 42.24 per cent.
The 2016 average advertised salary on SEEK for these jobs were emergency services on $79,897 and ambulance paramedics -on$72,565.
Job ads on SEEK for clinical and medical researchers have nationally increased 41.02 per cent, while nationally job ads for nursing, including midwifery and neo-natal, are up 50.33 per cent over the past 12 months.
The 2016 average advertised salary on SEEK for these job titles were clinical and medical researchers on $80,470 and nursing on $71,152.
“As birth rates increase across Australia, we predict specialised neo-natal nursing jobs will show continued ad growth on SEEK,” says Ms Banks.
“We also expect Clinical/Medical Researchers will remain strong advertisers as their services are essential for enhancing the wellbeing of Australian lives through medical advancements.”
There were 6 per cent more jobs advertised on SEEK this November than 12 months ago, with improved results across the states and territories.
Job ads growth was strongest in South Australia, up 16 per cent, followed by Victoria, up 12.7 per cent , the Australian capital Territory up 10.6, then Tasmania, up 8.3 per cent, the Northern Territory up 8.2 per cent, and only then by New South Wales, up 6.9 per cent.
In Western Australia and Queensland, job advertising associated with the mining downturn have finally stabilised and are now showing tentative signs of improvement.
At a national level, there has been a year-on-year increase of 4.5 per cent in the SEEK Employment Index this November, which points to favourable conditions for job seekers as there is slightly less applications, for each role.
