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Australian Businesses are Leaving Jobs Unfilled, Despite Rising Unemployment

Announcement posted by Indeed.com 27 Mar 2015

Report by Indeed reveals Hospitality, IT and Transport sectors have the most trouble filling jobs
 
 
Sydney, Australia, 27 March 2015 - Today the world’s largest job site, Indeed, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), have released a report into how long it takes to fill job openings. It reveals that Australian businesses often struggle to find the right people to fill jobs, despite rising unemployment nationwide.
 
The report examines the differences in recruitment timelines across 18 industries and five cities in Australia. It was revealed that on average one in four (28%) of job vacancies remain unfilled after one month. 13% of job vacancies are still open after three months. This means that if a job vacancy is not filled within the first month, there is a 44% chance that the vacancy will remain open for three months or more.
 
These delays can have serious consequences for businesses, potentially resulting in longer working hours and lower quality work as a result of staff shortages. This in turn can reduce morale and lead to higher staff turnover, ultimately raising hiring costs to the business further down the line.
 
Paul D’Arcy, SVP at Indeed said: “This research demonstrates that employers must keep a close eye on the time taken to fill positions. We have identified a ‘tipping point’ of 30 days. If a position remains unfilled after the first month of it being advertised, it is highly likely that the employer will struggle to fill this role within three months – meaning a potentially negative impact to the productivity of their business.”
 
Industry and Regional Breakdown
 
Across the 18 industries studied, the hospitality sector has the greatest difficulty finding the right candidates, with over a fifth (22%) of advertised positions reaching the three-month mark. This is followed by the information and communication sector, where 17% of vacancies made it to the three-month mark. In fact, over a third of the top 20 hardest jobs to fill in Australia are IT roles. The third most-affected sector is transport and storage.
 
The education sector has the least difficulty recruiting new employees: just under 8% of job vacancies were advertised for three months or more. The administrative and support services sector, which includes activities such as office administration, travel agents and security services, is also able to fill job vacancies quickly.
 

 
There is some variation in recruitment across Australia’s five most populous cities. Sydney has the highest proportion of vacancies taking three or more months to fill, estimated at 14.4%. Conversely, Adelaide has the lowest proportion of vacancies taking three months or more to fill, estimated at 12.3%.
 
Paul D’Arcy, SVP at Indeed said: “Seeing sectors such as hospitality and IT struggle to fill jobs is a signal to the Australian economy. Despite a backdrop of rising unemployment, especially amongst young people, there are still industries that experience challenges filling specialised roles. This data suggests that companies need to implement strategies such as training, upskilling or sponsorship to accelerate the recruitment pipeline where demand outstrips supply in Australia.
 
“However, the number of jobs remaining unfilled for long periods of time is lower in Australia than in other markets, such as the US, the UK and Germany. Today the labour market in Australia favours employers, who are able to fill most of their positions relatively quickly by global standards.”
 
ENDS
 
About the data
Using Indeed’s job advertisement data, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) assessed how long it takes businesses to find suitable candidates. The length of time it takes for a company to fill job vacancies with the right people for the job can be a key determinant of their ability to expand and drive the economy forward. All data is from April 2013 to April 2014 unless otherwise stated.
 
About Indeed
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