Grim sign for Aussie workers

Australia’s occupation marketplace is shrinking, with employment level behemoth SEEK reporting a crisp driblet successful occupation advertisements successful the past twelvemonth and informing the adjacent fewer months volition apt stay pugnacious ones for occupation hunters.

In its yearly study for the 2024 fiscal year, the institution reported a 20 per cent autumn successful advertisements, which it said was accordant “with a scope of employment indicators specified arsenic the emergence successful unemployment and the slowdown successful occupation vacancies and mobility”.

SEEK CEO Ian Narev said the darkened representation would apt proceed successful the near-term.

“For FY2025, economists are forecasting weaker macroeconomic conditions successful astir of our markets,” helium said.

“Based connected our humanities acquisition of akin conditions, we person assumed that paid advertisement volumes successful ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) volition proceed to diminution passim fiscal twelvemonth 2025.”

Australia’s unemployment complaint presently sits astatine 4.1 per cent and banking elephantine Westpac expects it to emergence to 4.5 per cent by the mediate of adjacent year.

The little occupation advertisement numbers deed SEEK’s bottommost enactment hard, with the institution reporting a 17 per cent autumn successful revenues to $1.16bn from the anterior twelvemonth and a $101m loss.

“SEEK’s header fiscal outcomes for the twelvemonth were impacted by a important simplification successful occupation advertisement volumes crossed APAC comparative to erstwhile grounds highs and the impairment of our concern successful Zhaopin,” Mr Narev said.

In precocious July, SEEK reported a $141m impairment complaint connected its concern successful Zhaopin, a Chinese recruitment services company.

SEEK blamed challenges successful China’s economical betterment for the writedown.

“In presumption of employment markets, blue-collar employment has performed considerably amended than the white-collar marketplace successful which Zhaopin chiefly operates,” the institution said.

SEEK’s stock terms collapsed connected Tuesday morning, sinking 8.5 per cent to hitch retired astir $600m successful worth from the company.