IT&T joins other sectors in jobs death spiral

Stan Beer
Monday, 04 May 2009 14:28

IT People - Enterprise

The Australian IT&T jobs scene continues to be in a nose dive with new figures showing that there are now less than half the jobs on offer than there were one year ago. As bad as it looks for IT&T jobs, however, in April the sector did not fare as badly as some other professional sectors.

According to the monthly Olivier Job Index, published by recruiter Olivier Group, online IT&T job ads fell 7.4% in April.  There are now 56% fewer IT&T jobs than 12 months ago.

IT&T is faring even worse than the devastating 12 month decline of 49.8% across all industries. However, the drop in IT&T job ads of 7.4% in April was relatively mild compared to some other sectors.

Particularly hard hit sectors in April include Engineering (-14.06%), Human Resources (-13.86%), Advertising and Media, (-12.44%) and Accounting (-12.06%).

The outlook is also gloomy for graduates, as job ads for those looking to enter the professional workforce for the first time have declined 56% over the past year.

Those looking for security of tenure in IT&T or any other sector might consider taking a public servant job in the ACT, where jobs are insulated by government spending.

However, the number of IT&T jobs advertised in ACT declined by 9.4% in April.

Healthcare was the only industry surveyed that did not record a fall last month, with a rise 0.67%. Concern about Swine flu is likely to bolster Healthcare, but will have a bad effect on other sectors, especially the travel/ tourism industry, according to Olivier Group.

“When SARS fears peaked in 2003 the Olivier Job Index tracked two month's decline in tourism and transport job ads,” Olivier Group director, Robert Olivier said.

“If fears about Swine Flu come to fruition, it will have a devastating effect on the transport and tourism industries, which are already struggling with the recession.”