One of the largest national surveys, Australia Talks National Survey 2021, asked tens of thousands of Australians about their job security and was conducted in early March. To coincide with the end date of the federal government’s Job Keeper scheme.
- 88% of respondents thought job security was a problem in Australia.
- 27% were concerned they might lose their job within the next 12 months.
- Unemployed and struggling to survive in the midst of a pandemic, the initial economic predictions for 2020 seemed pretty grim. Amazingly, the most recent government labor force report reveals Australia’s economic recovery after a pandemic-driven 2020 has been nothing short of astonishing.
- Confidence up in the employment market
- Today, Australians are now more confident about their job prospects than they were before the pandemic. According to a recent Westpac employment confidence report; the index rose 4.4 points from March to 103.9 thanks to an optimistic outlook on available employment.
- But respondents told the banks surveying team that their views on job security and earnings were ‘more mixed’ than the statistical results.
- What’s really happening in the employment market.
- For people seeking employment, expert resume writer; Roland Coombes is the equivalent of a frontline worker. Sydney-based; Roland has seen significant changes towards in the job market in the past 3 months. Roland believes Sydney and Australia are now moving into an ‘employee’s market’ and seeing a surge in job vacancies and a decline in the number of job applicants.
- Job security still a problem
The curious case of under employment
The shift to part-time work and the gig economy has left many in its wake.
Whilst some prefer to work part-time. There is a large portion of Australians who are not working the hours they want or need. In fact, there are more under-employed Australians then there are unemployed.
Right now, about 8.5 per cent of our total workforce is underemployed. Unfortunately, women are more likely to find themselves underemployed than men. When added to the unemployment rate, 14.3 per cent of Australians either can’t find work, or not enough work to make ends meet.
Only the young?
Despite the decline in the national unemployment rate, youth unemployment has increased. The post-COVID economical recovery has been skewed in favour of over 25’s and have come at expense of the young.
Possible reasons include the pandemics heavy impact on the tourism and hospitality industries, which are common fields of employment for young people.
Gen Z feeling the pressure.
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals ‘Gen Z’ – young workers aged 15-24 – were the hardest hit by unemployment since the start of the pandemic and experienced greater degrees mental health distress and job losses than older workers.
For those recently graduating from university, young people are still struggling to find careers relative to their degree. Many of Gen Z are now having to significantly compromise to get into lower paid, non-specialist work just to enter the workforce. Many are now turning to professional resume writers to help them.
The following survey looks at Gen Z job confidence:
Positive news
On a plus side, both unemployment and underemployment have continued their downward trends. The official jobless rate has dipped again from 6.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent, marking the fourth consecutive month of 2021 with unemployment on the decline. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates an extra 29,100 were employed in the month of April.
After an extremely strong result in April, May’s survey delivered another positive set of readings. Business conditions, employment, profitability and trading conditions all hit new record highs last month, while forward orders remained steady at the record level set in April and capacity utilization continued to run hot.
This growth in 2021 is projected to continue as an encouraging sign of Australia’s post-COVID economy bounce back.