Revealed: The surprising number of people you are REALLY competing against when you apply for a job
- Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe says three people applying for every job
- In May, 173,400 jobs were being advertised across Australia, official data shows
- Last month there were also 704,700 unemployed people – or four for every job
Australians applying for a job may be surprised to learn how few competitors they are likely to have even though the economy is slowing.
Last month there were 173,400 advertised jobs in Australia, Department of Employment data released this week showed.
In May there were 704,700 people without a job, leaving four job seekers for every vacancy.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said that with unemployment at just 5.2 per cent, there are even fewer applicants for every advertised job.
Australians applying for a job may be surprised to learn how few competitors they are likely to have even though the economy is slowing (stock image)
‘At present, there are fewer than three unemployed people for each vacancy,’ he told a business lunch in Adelaide on Thursday.
When Australia was last in recession 28 years ago, almost seven times as many people were competing for every job, as the unemployment rate stood at 9.9 per cent.
‘This compares with over 20 people for every vacancy in the early 1990s recession and five people for every vacancy in 2014,’ Dr Lowe said.
‘From this perspective the labour market looks reasonably tight.’
Despite the labour market tightness, the number of jobs advertised on the internet has fallen for five months in a row, the Department of Employment said.
Its vacancy report for May also found the number of advertised jobs had fallen by 10,400 or 5.7 per cent during the past year.
Last month, there were 173,400 advertised jobs in Australia, Department of Employment data released this week showed. In May, there were 704,700 people without a job, leaving four job seekers for every vacancy (pictured is a stock image)
Australia’s economy is also growing at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis a decade ago.
Dr Lowe said the Reserve Bank was likely to reduce interest rates further, to a new record low, in a bid to take the jobless rate below five per cent to ‘full employment’.
‘While it is not possible to pin the number down exactly, the evidence is consistent with an estimate below 5 per cent, perhaps around 4.5 per cent,’ he said.
‘We remain short of the unemployment rate associated with full employment, there is significant underemployment and there is further potential for labour force participation to increase when the jobs are there.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe (pictured in Adelaide this week) said that with unemployment at just 5.2 per cent, there even fewer applicants for every advertised job with just three people competing for each position
‘It is not unrealistic to expect a further reduction in the cash rate as the board seeks to wind back spare capacity in the economy and deliver inflation outcomes in line with the medium-term target.’
Of the 173,400 jobs advertised across Australia in May almost a third of them, or 53,200, were for a professional position requiring a university degree.
Clerical and administrative workers were next, with 29,300 jobs advertised, followed by tradies and technicians (23,000) and managers (21,000).
In May, the health care and social assistance industry was Australia’s biggest employer, with 13 per cent of the workforce, followed by retail (10.1 per cent) and construction (9.1 per cent).
The mining industry employed just 1.9 per cent of Australians.