Healthy job market; shallow pool of talent

The Australian job market continues to grow stronger, according to a recent job index.

The Australian job market continues to grow stronger, according to a recent job index.

The Olivier Internet Job Index rose 2.7 percent in July.

On average, it found nearly 130,000 new jobs were advertised every week in July, with a significant surge (23.1 percent) in trades and services vacancies.

But while the number of internet job advertisements was at a three year high, and with unemployment at a record low, there was a concern the supply of talented workers was falling short.

Robert Olivier, a director of the Olivier Group, highlighted the hospitality, and advertising and media sectors as particularly strong, with vacancy increases of 12 percent and 11 percent respectively.

However, IT and telecommunications advertisements fell by 3.3 percent. "This is disappointing," said Olivier. "It was this time last year that fresh budgets gave that sector its first rebound."

Olivier also emphasised the problem of a diminishing workforce. "The talent pool has shrunk," he said. "Employers are finding that candidate response is down. This can be partly explained by the cyclical nature of job hunting.

"The end of the financial year sees many people with their heads down, and the two weeks of school holidays in the months also affects response rates. It's also possible that many people had good salary reviews in June. But if they haven't, they should know that there's plenty of choice out there."

Olivier reiterated the concern over demand outweighing supply. "There are a lot of people looking for jobs and many employers are desperate for people. But there is a mismatch of experience, skillset or price. This is an early warning that the lack of qualified people could be a constraint on our economy."