Findings from Jobs and Skills Australia’s Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey in March 2023 show that recruitment activity remained steady for the third consecutive month, with 55% of surveyed employers recruiting.
Recruitment difficulty increased in March 2023, rising to 64% of recruiting employers (or 36% of all employers), an increase of 3 percentage points from the previous month. This was due to a rise in the recruitment difficulty rate in capital cities, up by 6 percentage points to 65%. By comparison, the rate remained unchanged at 64% in rest of state areas (which generally covers regional Australia).
More detailed data from the survey revealed there were marked increases in recruitment difficulty for businesses with 20 employees or more, up by 13 percentage points to 67% from the previous month. Employers recruiting to fill higher skilled positions, also experienced increased difficulty, up by 7 percentage points to 72%.
In March 2023, 30% of employers surveyed expected to increase their staffing levels in the next 3 months – a positive sign for the Australian labour market. This was 3 percentage points higher than the previous month, and 2 percentage points lower than 12 months ago (32%).
The proportion of employers who expected to decrease staffing was unchanged over the month, at 3% in March 2023.
