Hudson Report : Employment Trends Says, IT Skills Are In Demand In Australia

22 Oct 2013

As per Hudson, a recruitment company, out of all the industries in Australia, the IT industry has the greatest intention to hire new employees and, it is also the industry that has the largest proportion of employers expecting to raise the headcount of contractors.

According to the recent ‘Hudson Report: Employment Trends’, 24.1% of employers in the ICT industry are considering a contractor headcount raise and 36% are considering a raise in their permanent worker numbers. 54.9% plan to keep the number of permanent workers steady and 9.1% to reduce them. 66.9% plan to keep their number of contractors steady and 9.4% to reduce them.

Employers who are seeking to keep their number of workers steady has been increasing across all industries since 2011’s Q3 and now stands at 63% while the employers planning to raise the number of workers has been declining since 2010’s Q3. Going by profession, the future of recruitment is strongest for communications, technology & information professionals followed by engineering & technical professionals.

Mark Steyn, Hudson Asia Pacific’s CEO, commenting on the results said that while there is a decreased pressure on hiring expectations, it is not as evident as it was entering into the GFC where the number of employers reducing headcount was much higher. He said that they are seeing liquidity in the market as many employers are restructuring their teams, but are not raising their overall headcount.

He added that organizations cannot shrink their way to success and people who can help lift productivity, open up revenue streams and transform businesses to compete more effectively stay in huge demand. So, while employers may not be developing their overall workforces, they are on the lookout for the right people to ensure they are well-positioned and transform their businesses.

He was guardedly optimistic that job prospects may improve toward the end of the year. He said that interest rate cuts have accelerated the housing market, while the falling Australian dollar is alleviating pressures in other markets. These factors add and influence the likelihood of betterment in the recruitment outlook over the next year.

Based on data collected from 2,556 employers’ interviews in Australia, the Hudson report is released quarterly.