Australia in particular has certainly come a long way since the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and has survived
much better over the course of the GFC than many of the European Community countries and certainly better than the US. Australia’s jobless rate from September 2011 to January 2013 was on average well below 5.5%, while according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics the jobless rate was nearly 9% of the population in the United States, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and higher across much of the rest of Europe.
In February of 2013, here in Australia over seventy thousand new jobs were created, a thirteen-year record for job growth in Australia. This job growth far exceeded the expectations of many experts, whose modest predictions of under-ten thousand new jobs for February were way off the mark.
Australia is doing fairly well, in terms of growth within white-collar sectors. As of 2013, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics nearly 70% of employed individuals were white-collar workers,. Technological progress has helped herald a new increase in white-collar employment across our nation. The banking industry has also begun to recover domestically, bringing new job opportunities with it for Australians. It remains to be seen how economic/employment trends will affect Australia’s forthcoming election, will Julia Gillards Australian Labor Party successfully use them to their advantage, or will we see a new Government take the helm of the country?
That said, white-collar work is an extremely broad category that could refer to any number of industries, and different industries may recover at different rates. The financial sector has experienced fluctuations in terms of employment recently, although the trajectory may be uncertain at this point.
Older workers may be benefiting from the growth in the white-collar sector more than younger workers, and those in emerging adulthood. The Generation Ys in Australia are still experiencing some difficulty transitioning to the working world. It is believed 25% of young adult Australians are depending on financial help from their family and friends, according to a Melbourne Institute study. However, there is no reason to believe that these trends will continue, and they may be a transitional gain for these individuals as the economy continues to recover and job growth expands.
University educated young adults in Australia will no doubt find new opportunities, as white-collar industries continue to flourish. Those who are able to use this time to return to school and become even more qualified professionals may be at an even stronger advantage in the longer term.
On the other hand Australia has been experiencing some deficiencies in the number of skilled blue collar workers in certain jobs, in particular within the Oil & Gas, Mining & Resources sector, which has seen significant growth in recent years, with some analysts believing this sector, has propped up the Australian economy.
It remains to be seen how policy will change over the course of the next year, in the run up to, and past the forthcoming General Election, in particular with regard to the numbers of overseas workers allowed Australian working visas to help satisfy the shortfalls of roles we are seeing in some sectors. What the future will bring for the workers of Australia it is hard to tell, but I believe we are in for some positive times ahead which can only mean good things for the Australian economy and Australians one and all!
© 2022, Paul Simms, – Wright Executive. www.
Paul Simms is an executive search recruiter with 25+ years of experience across the Australian and UK markets. He is the founder of Wright Executive Search, a specialist business within the Executive Search & Accounting Recruitment sector, and is considered one of Australia’s most respected Executive Search Firms.
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This is a really interesting read and good to see that the Australian economy is doing so well, especially as there are concerns in the UK of a triple dip recession!
I think it would be really good to understand why youth unemployment is a problem. Are the younger population looking to secure work based on education alone or do they have work experience to back up the knowledger they have aquired? I appreciate that its always difficult to get a foot on the ladder as, if you need experience to gain it, its a catch 22 situation, however, as a hiring manager, I believe that a good work ethic is essential, even if that experience is not in the field that you have studied in. We need to be encouraging our kids to earn extra pocket money whilst studying at high school and then on to college and university as this will look good on their CV’s and show during the interview process.
It seems that the drop in jobs in the March figures may be a little ‘bounce back’ from the strong February numbers. it is always much better to watch the long-term trend than each month as the statistical errors come to play.
Overall I would say that things are fairly robust – we are a tough crowd to please, and unless the economy is always booming, the tendency is to complain. I wish we would stop it some times!
Hi Glenn, you are absolutely right, it seems the March figures aren’t all that pretty and we are now at the highest unemployment rate we have seen in Australia for a good few years at 5.6%, however we are still way ahead of the rest of the world. It is so true that we complain way too much, and expect a booming economy all of the time…. let hope we get some employment growth next month!
I think for those of us in Australia who occassionally peak over the fence to see how the rest of the world is fairing we have to be pretty pleased that the economy continues to push forward with leaps and bounds. For educated, skilled migrants there are great opportunities over here, and a great lifestyle. Mining, gas, resources always seems to be called out as the industry that holds up the economy however the service sectors, Retail, IT, Construction, and any other ‘Sectors’ you can think of seem to play as important a part from what I can see. Where Australia can struggle is that all its work and opportunity seems to cluster around the major cities, and I think for the economy more needs to be done to move some of the skills to the periphery more and create some new hubs of talent, and that of course would mean more construction works, teachers, doctors, retail and so on and so on. What also helps to underpin a great Australian economy is that talented individuals want to be here, it has a young exciting appeal to people around the world, great lifestyle, good weather and has an immigration system that encourages people in. And of course the opportunity of education over here and I hear that students may be offered 4 year visas once they complete their studies.
Australia has everthing going for it right now, its a young, optimistic, exciting country, I don’t see that changing any time soon, so we should enjoy it!
Hi Rich,
An excellent point you make there, Australia is certainly very state capital centric and more investment in regional growth would do wonders for the economy as a whole. we are lucky we have such a fantastic country which is the envy of the world and people want to come here….. as you say, we should definitelt enjoy it!
Paul