Well it’s official (sort of). Seek.com has recently released data (March 2018) from the last 12 months confirming the industries that topped their list of job ad growth. It’s perhaps not surprising to everyone West of the border that mining is leading the charge in Australia.
The other industries showing job ad growth (images from SEEK.com article and from left to right in order of most growth) are:
The Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business Labour Market Information Portal shows support for this data by stating the ‘Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) increased by 0.6% in February 2018 and has risen for 16 consecutive months, the longest run of consecutive monthly increases since March 2011. The IVI is now 10.5% higher than the level recorded a year ago and 31.4% (or 43,900 advertisements) above the October 2013 low point‘.
What the officials predict will be THE booming industries of the future holds a surprise though
Being from a resource driven state like Western Australia, it’s hard to imagine any other industry leading the charge on jobs growth. However, over the five years to May 2022, the Labour Market Information Portal predict that employment is projected to increase most dramatically in Healthcare and Social Assistance. On second thought, perhaps this should come as no surprise given the ageing population in Australia? But that’s an article for another day…
Of the 19 broad industries that are monitored, the four industries projected to provide more than half the total employment growth to 2022 mirror some of the current Seek.com data:
- Health Care and Social Assistance is projected to make the largest contribution to employment growth (increasing by 250,500)
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (126,400)
- Construction (120,700)
- Education and Training (116,200).
(PS: am I the only one who thinks the year 2022 was something to do with Buck Rogers when growing up!)
But what does this all mean to businesses – not just those related to growth industries?
For starters, there is often a flow on effect that reaches other businesses that also rely on the roles that the growth industries do. Then there are those industries further downstream that provide infrastructure or support services…followed by the retail/hospitality industries who will eventually feel the effects from all this ‘growth’ on attracting staff or having more consumers in their stores.
A few things your business could do right now to plan for your near-future human resources include:
- Retain flexibility in the composition of your workforce to capitalise on the ebb and flow of growth. You won’t be alone as we are seeing casuals and part time employees making up more of the workforce.
- Check your pay rates are still competitive – but don’t panic. The ABC reports JP Morgan as saying decent wages growth is still some time away and underutilisation figures (those people dropping out or looking for more work) suggest that there are likely to be other suitable candidates for a role- basically supply and demand 101.
- Review the systems you use to manage and control your most precious assets. How can you reduce the time you spend managing payroll, controlling leave applications or even dealing with staffing issues, especially as you grow yourself? More time dealing with these issues will mean less time to concentrate on your business. In short, plan how you will free up your time now before you become too busy to be proactive.
From conversations with colleagues and clients within the resources industry, we’re not likely to ever see the heady days of the mid to late 2000s but any growth is a good thing and means you can start to plan for how your business can capitalise directly or indirectly.
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