Seek And You May Find

The annual spike in Australian job seekers has reached its highest level in five years, CoreData reveals.

It seems the annual flood of university and school leavers entering the market have been joined by an increased volume of additional job hunters, either inside or outside the workforce, but now seeking work.

By using web search trends analytics from internet search engine, Google, there is volume-based anecdotal evidence that job seeking is on the rise now.

Despite Australia experiencing a growing velocity of companies announcing weak business activity outlooks, the levels of job losses being announced are still relatively mild compared to what is happening overseas in the UK, US and Japan.

But the Google data suggests many people are unsettled and may be looking to jump before being pushed.

Web Search Volume: Australia for jobs, 2004 – present

In terms of financial services, the news from around the world remains grim.

Global giant RBS (a group that up until recently epitomized the aggressive growth and high risk culture behind the credit crisis) announced plans to split in two and shed up to 20,000 jobs this week, while Citigroup approached the US Government seeking additional funding to facilitate its continued survival.

As more people become less secure in their current roles, and those who have had bonuses, hours slashed and even lost their jobs – the number of individuals seeking new roles will continue to rise.

This is understandable as we move into a period of low economic growth.

However one outcome of this trend is that the employment industry is now moving into an employer’s market.

Just over 18 months ago many companies were struggling to fill vacant roles with half-competent staff, as wage inflation swelled and unemployment reached long-term lows in Australia.

Now though, particularly in financial services, there is a bounty of highly experienced and skilled individuals either looking for new roles or contemplating moving from existing roles.

It’s unlikely that we will see any major deflation in terms of wage levels in the industry but what we are likely to see are companies getting more bang for their buck when it comes to staff.

In the long term the pain that the industry is currently feeling and will continue to do so as we move through the cycle should, in theory, allow for some healthy pruning among larger institutions, which had become fat and inefficient.