Jobs in Australia: Trades, health care, hospitality and other industries breaking records

As Australia’s unemployment rate drops to a record low, job ads have once again surpassed a major milestone that will have job seekers cheering.

For the second month in a row, April job listings on SEEK Australia broke records, with 11 industries recording their highest ever job ad volumes.

According to SEEK’s April employment report, trades and services, hospitality and tourism and healthcare and medical topped the list, with job ads up 11.9 per cent month-on-month. Listings also showed an increase of 263.7 per cent year-on-year and 30.9 per cent compared to April 2019 figures.

SEEK Australia’s Managing Director Kendra Banks said this uptick in jobs bucked “typical” job market trends, with April normally being a quieter month due to the impact of the Easter holidays.

“The Covid bounce back continues at pace, and particularly in small and medium-sized businesses,” she said. “Job ad volumes in the hospitality and tourism industry have grown 21.7 per cent month on-month and are 16 times higher when comparing April 2021 to April 2020.”

“There are factors that are driving these strong numbers that are important to consider, including that many of the jobs currently being advertised are for roles that were displaced in the last year.

RELATED: Aussie jobs surpass ‘bumper’ 23-year record

If you're on the hunt for a new role, than it's time to brush up your interview skills. Picture: iStock.

RELATED: Futurist’s bold 80-year career prediction

The boom in job ads also correlated with a stark decrease in applications per ad, with rates at the lowest they’ve been since 2012.

“The reasons for this include workers continuing to display a more cautious attitude to the job market, and the reduced labour supply impacting the ability to fill roles,” said Ms Banks.

Despite this, Australia’s April unemployment rate did marginally drop by 0.2 per cent to 5.5 per cent, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Furthermore, the month-to-month underemployment rate (now 7.8 per cent) and participation rate (now 66 per cent) also decreased.

The impact of the end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy, which concluded on March 28, was also reflected in April unemployment figures. Despite this, the ABS reported that while they expected the changes to “result in some people losing their jobs or changing jobs,” this wasn’t the case.

“Changes in employment and hours between March and April did not identify a clear aggregate impact from the end of JobKeeper,” they stated.

RELATED: Unemployment falls despite JobKeeper end

Despite fears of the opposite happening, the unemployment rate actually dropped slightly in April. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley.

April’s industry-specific record-breaking number of job ads was also proof of Australia’s job ad recovery. All industries, except farming, animals and conservations reported month-on-month growth, with 11 industries recording the most amount of listings in the history of seek.com.au.

In order of ad volume, they were:

1. Trades and services

2. Hospitality and tourism

3. Healthcare and medical

4. Manufacturing, transport and logistics

5. Education and training

6. Retail and consumer products

7. Community services and development

8. Marketing and communications

9. Government and defence

10. Farming, animals and conservation

11. Sports and recreation

This article was created in sponsorship with SEEK