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20 April, 2020

SEEK employment trends show nosedive in tourism and hospitality ads

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New data from jobseeker site SEEK has shown the tourism and hospitality industry had the sharpest decline in overall job advertisements in March.

The findings come with the release of the latest SEEK Employment Report, which shows an overall decline in Australian job advertisement volume of 33.9 per cent year on year to March 2020.

Unfortunately, the industry leading the way in this decline has been hospitality and tourism (down 47.7 per cent), trailed by trades and services (down 36 per cent), and information and community technology (down 30.7 per cent).

According to SEEK Australia and New Zealand managing director Kendra Banks, the industry was one of the first to be impacted by COVID-19.

“The coronavirus pandemic has caused widespread disruption to the labour market and SEEK is seeing a range of industries respond in very different ways,” she said.

“Job ads declined week on week throughout March, starting at 13 per cent, then 26 per cent, then 69.2 per cent, and by the final week of March, down 84.1 per cent.”

Signs do not point to these impacts slowing down, according to the study.

SEEK found that the impacts of COVID-19 have only amplified since the start of March, with new job ads posted on SEEK during the week ending 12 April down 68.6 per cent compared to the same week last year.

Additionally, 82 per cent of Australians say their job has been directly impacted by the pandemic, while 30 per cent say they have either had their hours reduced or lost their role completely.

“It is not pleasing to see the continued impact of COVID-19 on the labour market however our data does indicate that the typical Easter decline in hiring was not as prominent this year,” Banks said.

“In past years, we get a notable drop in job advertising over the Easter period. However, this year, given the already low advertising levels, we have not seen such a notable decline.

“It also appears that with many people not taking Easter holiday breaks, this buffeted the reduced advertising activity we would normally see over a holiday period.”

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