Australian IT jobs ads drop like a stone

Stan Beer
Friday, 07 March 2008 08:58

IT People - Enterprise

The best growth was for the small IT job segment, ‘instruction/ training/ writing documentation’ (1793 jobs) rising 5.9% in February.

Director of Olivier Group, Robert Olivier, puts the blame for the declining IT&T jobs market squarely at the feet of the tightening economy and he warns that things may deteriorate further in the wake of the current interest rate hikes.

“Last year the job market was resilient to interest rate rises but our February result suggests the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) is finally having an effect,” Robert Olivier said.   “Although the employment market is still strong, business confidence has been shaken and employers need confidence to hire.”

“This may be the tipping point into negative territory, and it could get worse as a result of last week's interest rate rise,”says Robert Olivier. “But it is still a very strong employment market”.

Another worrying sign, according to Olivier, is the fact that February is usually one of the most bouyant months for the jobs market.

"February is usually the month the jobs market bounces back after the end of year lull. February has been a bellwether – last year it was up 4.39% heralding the very strong year which followed. However, this February hasn't picked up over January as much as last year, or previous years," Olivier stated.

“Business confidence has been shaken by many economic factors, and hiring depends on confidence. Employers may be adopting a wait and see attitude. There has been a lot of negative economic noise around. Other economists have noted there's an over reaction, given good business conditions, so the jobs market may not continue to deteriorate as we fear."