REOS 2023 in Review
Jobs and Skills Australia has released the Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS) 2023 in Review report. It paints a picture of slowing labour market conditions over the year, with a decrease in recruitment activity and signs that businesses were finding it easier to recruit staff. This was consistent across almost all industries, occupations and skill levels.
Pre-empting the slow-down in the labour market to come, recruitment activity in Australia declined consistently over the first half of 2023. At 50%, the average recruitment rate for 2023 was well below the 56% recorded in 2022. While recruitment activity started edging up marginally towards the end of 2023, this likely reflects seasonal recruitment leading up to the Christmas period.
Recruitment difficulty has been steadily declining since early-to-mid 2023, reflecting an increasing pool of available candidates for vacant positions. The recruitment difficulty rate stood at 51% in December 2023 and, in smoothed terms, is at its lowest level since September 2021 and well below the peak levels of 75% recorded in mid-2022.
Almost all industries recorded declining recruitment activity in 2023, compared with 2022, and employers reported having less difficulty recruiting in almost all industries and occupations.
However, there were considerable differences in patterns of recruitment activity across industries and recruitment difficulty also varied considerably depending on the occupation being recruited for. For example, employers hiring Clerical and Administrative Workers and Sales Workers were able to fill their vacancies relatively quickly and easily. This compares with those hiring Technicians and Trades Workers and Professionals, where more than two out of three employers faced difficulty hiring and a high proportion of vacancies had been unfilled for longer than a month.
About the Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS) report
The REOS provides a number of indicators of recruitment activity and recruitment expectations, based on the findings from monthly surveys of approximately 1,000 Australian employers with five or more staff.
Find out more on the Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey page.
