The ICT sector has led the way for all other business and industry sectors in March, with executive job demand rising by 4% following a big increase of 26% in February.
The combined increase of 30% for the two months for the ICT sector was on the back of strong gains in March from Queensland, while New South Wales and Victoria held onto most of the gains they made in February.
The report, from EL Consult, shows that Western Australia had another down month for ICT employment in March but the executive search firm says this may reflect the volatile nature of the sector.
Across the board in all business and industry sectors for March, EL Consult reports a small correction consolidated the massive jobs rise nationally in February.
{loadposition peter}According to EL Consult, an eastern seaboard construction boom coupled with a resource industry revival is firing up the economy.
New executive positions dropped back only 15% last month confirming what EL Consult managing director Grant Montgomery says is the “unheard of 47% rise in February marking an already stellar 2017 for the Australian economy”.
“A 15% fall in executive positions would normally be a disappointing result but coming on the heels of the huge 47% rise last month it consolidates what appears to a fiercely upward trending 2017 economy,” Montgomery says.
“Record current account surpluses and continuing low interest rates here and internationally are all positive signs of a serious mending following the resources collapse and, internationally, the GFC.
“While the government is still constrained and battling some serious budget deficit legacy issues, business is far more confident and planning, building and investing in the future.
“The constant lament of politicians five years ago was what would replace the resources boom; well, it was replaced in spades by the eastern states housing and construction boom and guess what, that is continuing and now it seems commodities prices are moving up again.
“As Sydney’s population ticks over the five million mark, developers are building new homes at unprecedented levels but even at 60,000 new homes a year demand is at least 10% higher, leaving an accumulated national shortage of more than quarter of a million homes. So, the housing construction boom is unlikely to end any time soon.”
Montgomery says that to further meet the demand, and fuelled by stamp duty and property tax revenues, the NSW Government, and to a lesser extent Queensland and Victoria, is going through a boom in infrastructure building.
“As one would expect, all this is having a significant effect on the demand for executives as business gears up for growth.
“Significantly the big drivers are engineering, particularly civil, and finance as bankers and investors rush to be part of the booming investment conditions of cheap money and high demand.
“In fact, all sectors, except for marketing and management, were positive or flat this month which is not surprising as marketing is related to consumer spending which is yet to pick up and management, which is a quasi-public sector measure, is still grappling, as mentioned earlier with national budget deficit.
“We certainly see this as a positive start to the 2017 year and better than has occurred for more than four years," Montgomery said.
In March EL Consult reported that the smaller states produced the best results, with the larger states backing off from their “breathtaking February gains”, while the government-heavy regions of the Northern Territory and the ACT led the way, with Tasmania also strong.