GC job boom amid gloom

THE Gold Coast has emerged as Queensland’s jobs engine, with employment up 10.8 per cent in the past five years.

The Department of Employment’s Australian Jobs 2017 report revealed the city added 29,600 new jobs during the five-year period, accounting for 13 per cent of all employment in the state.

The performance is all the more impressive against the backdrop of a lacklustre Queensland jobs market.

More than 32,000 Queensland jobs disappeared last year and competition for available roles was the highest in the country.

The number of jobs in the state fell 1.3 per cent between November 2015 and 2016, with a drop of 65,900 full-time roles far outweighing the increase in 33,700 part-time roles.

Western Australia (down 1.3 per cent) and Tasmania (down 0.8 per cent) also recorded year-on-year declines while Victoria led the way for the growth states, up 3.6 per cent.

The national average was 0.7 per cent job growth.

“(In Queensland) the largest numbers of new jobs were created in professional, scientific and technical services (up by 24,200 or 16.3 per cent), health care and social assistance (22,800 or 8.3 per cent) and accommodation and food services (22,100 or 14.1 per cent),” the report said.

“Significant employment falls were recorded in agriculture, forestry and fishing (down by 19,600 or 26.9 per cent) and electricity, gas, water and waste services (15,500 or 37.2 per cent).”

Competition for jobs increased last year, with 19 applicants on average for each Queensland vacancy – up from 16 applicants the year before.

The national average in 2016 was 15 applicants.

Hays Queensland managing director Darren Buchanan said although competition was high in Queensland, applicants were not necessarily all unemployed. The figure simply represented market activity.

“(Applicants) could be made up of the unemployed, people moving to Queensland from interstate and people currently in jobs,” he said.

“A big influencer has been that we’ve seen stagnant wage growth. That will undoubtedly cause people to start looking for new employment especially if there aren’t development opportunities within their company.

“Also, as the economy improves, workers become more confident to take a new job. People that were focused on just hanging onto the job they had are now feeling more confident and see there are more opportunities.”

The job market had improved in the five months since the report, Mr Buchanan said.