IT& jobs market devastated by worst ever plunge in January

Stan Beer
Saturday, 07 February 2009 02:42

IT Industry - Market

While IT&T has been hard, it was not the worst performer on the jobs front. Financial Services dropped most with 20.82% fewer jobs in the month. Human Resources fell 20.09%, reflecting the dire state of the employment market. Advertising and Media dropped 18.31%, Legal is down 18.13%, and Accounting jobs fell 16.76%.

Least effected were Trades and Services (which fell just 0.83% in the month), and Healthcare which dropped just 1.75%. Both are the only single digit declines last month. “It's OK still for doctors, nurses and plumbers – when you need them, you've got to have them,” says Robert Olivier.

While the Olivier data looks at the demand side of employment, organisations are still pruning jobs. “It's like running the bath with the plug out. How fast is the water level falling? There may not be enough new jobs coming in to make up for the ones being lost. But so far many of the people who are not working may not be showing up as statistics.

“We always see a trough from the first week of December through to February. This year's figures show a steeper fall. Our analysis of the weekly data shows far less bounce in January than last year,” says Robert Olivier. 

The Reserve Bank acknowledged 'contractionary forces coming from abroad ' and noted significant dampening effect on confidence, and therefore on prospects for growth in demand.  As the RBA acknowledges, the root cause of an economic slow down in Australia is lack of confidence.

“There are still 200,000 job ads on the major  Australian employment sites, so organisations are still hiring,” says Robert Olivier from the Olivier Group.”There is still choice. Candidates shouldn't get dragged down by the gloom.”

There are more people applying for jobs. “Applicant numbers are up and the calibre is extremely good,” says Robert Olivier. Not all are being laid off. “Some may have had contracts come to an end at the end of the year or maybe they're looking for recession proof jobs.”

“This flow of talent is better than any employer will have experienced over the past five years. Still it may be a mistake to wait too long in the hope that even better quality candidates will come along.”

“In the current market employers may not increase their teams but this is a great chance to strengthen them,” Robert Olivier says.