Australia’s employment expectations remain positive despite widespread negative international sentiment, with more than a third of surveyed hiring managers intending to increase permanent headcount over the coming three months.
Hudson’s latest Employment Expectations report, reflecting the views of 4,338 employers across Australia surveyed in late December, shows that all sectors continue to report positive employment expectations, led by a robust resources sector.
A strong 35.9% of surveyed employers across Australia are reporting intentions to increase the number of permanent employees in the first three months of 2012 and more than half, at 54.0%, are planning to keep headcount steady over the same period. The number of employers planning to decrease permanent staff in the first quarter of 2012 remained unchanged over the quarter at 10.1%.
Although still in positive territory, these figures have weakened when compared to the previous quarter, slipping 2.2 percentage points (pp) to net 25.7%, compared to the previous quarter of 27.9%.
CFO of Hudson Asia Pacific Mark Leigh said: “Despite the current international uncertainty, and changing conditions at home, employment expectations in Australia on the whole remain positive, particularly in the resources, transport and construction and engineering sectors. NSW has bucked the state-wide trend, with a positive uplift in expectations, driven mostly by the transport and manufacturing sectors.
“Furthermore, we expect high demand in certain roles, such as engineering, geology, HSE and operational roles as well as for customer facing IT specialists.
“Now more than ever, in a turbulent economic climate, the cost of a bad hire is crippling. It is essential that employers have a robust process in place to rigorously assess and secure the best people for their businesses.”
Sentiment in the resource-rich states of Western Australia and Queensland remain strong at net 45.1% and 35.4% respectively. Just under half (49.9%) of surveyed employers in Western Australia are planning to hire permanent employees before the end of March 2012, with a robust 43.5% in Queensland planning to increase permanent headcount over the same period.
Employer confidence in New South Wales lifted 2.4 percentage points over the quarter to net 23.5% pushing the state to third place overall from fifth most confident state or territory last quarter.
Hiring intentions in the ACT remained steady over the quarter, dropping a fractional 0.60pp over three months to net 27.8% and down 16.9pp year-on-year.
South Australia was the only state or territory to record a lift in sentiment year-on-year, rising 1.7pp from the same time last year. However, hiring intentions in the state dropped 2.1pp over the quarter to net 20.5%.
Victoria remained the nation’s least confident state or territory, dropping 12.7pp year-on-year and slipping 3.1pp over the quarter to net 17.8%.
The resources sector is once again the nation’s most confident at net 57.7% - a strong 32.0pp above the net national average. Hiring intentions remained steady over the quarter (down 0.6pp), with a robust 62.4% of employers planning to increase the number of permanent employees in the three months to end of March 2012 - the highest of any industry.
On the back of the robust resources sector, employer confidence in construction / property & engineering is strong, with net 38.7% of hiring managers intending to increase permanent headcount over the coming three months. Despite dropping 3.2pp over the quarter, a robust 44.8% of employers in the sector are reporting plans to increase the number of permanent employees in their organisation.
Confidence in the professional services sector also remains solid, despite employer sentiment tailing off slightly with a 6.1pp drop over the last three months to net 44.7%. Just under half of employers in the sector (48.1%) plan to increase permanent headcount over the coming quarter.
At net 39.7%, employer confidence in information technology dropped 3.0pp over the quarter but is Australia’s third most confident sector. A strong 48.1% of employers intend increasing the number of permanent employees.
In terms of growth, the transport sector recorded the highest growth in sentiment, lifting a strong 7.0pp over the quarter to net 33.3%. This sector experienced both a quarterly and a year-on-year rise in hiring intentions. In NSW the formation of the new integrated transport agency, Transport for NSW, contributed significantly to the buoyancy of this sector. Senior ranks of the new divisional structure are progressively being filled.
This was followed by FMCG, which saw sentiment lift 4.4pp over the quarter to net 11.4% and up 3.0pp year-on-year from 8.4% in January to March 2011. Hiring intentions rose for the first time since January to March 2011 with 25.2% of employers planning to increase permanent headcount in the first quarter of 2012.
In line with the previous quarter and reflecting widespread economic sentiment, manufacturing experienced the largest year on year drop, plummeting 28.4pp from the same time last year to net 10.7% to become the nation’s least confident sector.
In addition, as a result of the strong Australian dollar and the rise of increased international competition, confidence in the tourism and hospitality industry dropped significantly, down 24.5pp from January to March 2011 to net 19.2%.
“As recorded last quarter, the two-speed economy continues to drive significant differences in employer sentiment between the sectors, with those industries connected to resources remaining most upbeat. Industries outside of resources are more closely reflecting the global economic uncertainty. In spite of this sector divergence, it is encouraging to see that all regions and industries are reporting positive employment expectations for the first three months of 2012,” commented Mr Leigh.