Fewer Australians are experiencing unemployment and job placements are on the rise, according data released today by one of Australia’s largest employment services providers, PVS Workfind.
The PVS Workfind Job Seeker Index rose 11.2 points in May, representing a 5.2 percent drop in newly unemployed job seekers and a 6.0 percent rise in job placements at the agency.
This rise indicates an improvement for job seekers in recent months, according to CEO of PVS Workfind’s parent company ESH Group Barry Borzillo.
“Job placements are up and new commencements are down. This is a great turnaround from the worse days of the GFC in 2009, when unemployment reached 5.8 percent. Then we had the double whammy for job seekers of large job losses and few employers adding new staff.”
The Index draws its results primarily from low/semi-skilled job seekers who, come a downturn, are among the first to feel the effects of unemployment and seek assistance from job agencies.
This could be a reason for smaller increase in employment in Western Australia given the strength and employment demands of the resources sector, says Borzillo.
“Mining is a skills-based industry, and it is a reality that there is a large group of unemployed in the West who don’t have appropriate skills for mining, so are effectively shut out of the boom.”
The East Coast of Australia (Qld, NSW and Vic) performed particularly well relative to WA. On the East Coast there was an 8.8 percent drop in newly unemployed job seekers in May and placements rose by 9.9 percent.
