Indeed, the world’s largest job site, has revealed today that job seekers in Australia are searching for flexible work two and a half times more often than they were two years ago.
Interest in flexible work (measured by online job searches that include terms such as “remote”, “work from home”, “weekend”, “part-time” and “telecommute”) has increased by 42.1% over the last two years in nine of the 12 countries studied, including Australia. Australia stands out significantly as undergoing an exponential increase, in comparison to the gradual rise in countries like the US, Japan, and Germany.
More than half of the top 50 keywords associated with searches for flexible work globally are related to high-skilled jobs, and many are in the tech and healthcare fields, where talent is scarce. In Australia, the occupations most likely to receive interest for remote work are computer and mathematical, healthcare support and management occupations.
Furthermore, Australia is in the top five countries globally for temporary work opportunities, behind only Italy, Luxembourg, France and Belgium. A third of Australian jobs posted on Indeed are temporary, and one in 10 Australian jobs are part-time. In addition, the local ‘Gig Economy’ is small but growing, adding more flexible roles to the labour market.
Indeed Chief Economist, Tara Sinclair, commented: “Employers are underestimating the interest from highly-skilled workers in flexible options. New technologies have given rise to new ways of working, and Australian job seekers now want to have a greater say in when and where they work.”
Australia’s job market mismatch
Against this trend of changing work patterns, Indeed data also reveals that more than one in 10 Australian jobs take longer than two months to fill. This delay in filling roles is affecting Australia’s economic outlook, as employers are becoming increasingly unable to properly manage their workforce to increase productivity.
Of the 12 biggest economies, only five countries find it more difficult to fill roles than Australian employers.
Percentage of jobs unfilled on Indeed after 60 days:
1. United States - 25.84%
2. Germany - 20.00%
3. Canada - 18.70%
4. France - 16.07%
5. United Kingdom - 13.09%
6. Australia - 11.66%
7. Japan - 11.12%
8. India - 10.22%
9. Italy - 9.28%
10. Brazil - 7.2%
11. Russia - 1.84%
12. China - 1.42%
In fact, Australia has a talent shortage in all of the sample job titles analysed by Indeed, with many sectors having double the amount of open roles compared to interest from job seekers.
Indeed Chief Economist, Tara Sinclair, commented: “The mismatch between what employers need, and what job seekers are looking for in Australia is hindering productivity growth. On one hand, the end of the mining boom has left workers with highly specialised skills such as engineering out of work. While in other areas, such as technology, employers are struggling to find enough workers with the right skills.
“Given the problem Australian businesses have filling vacant roles, and the huge interest from job seekers for more flexible work, employers need to consider how to attract the best talent by offering flexible options and being more open-minded about the exact skill-sets they’re looking for.”
You can read the full report on unfilled jobs and other labour market trends for 2016 in the latest Hiring Lab research report:
indeed.com/hiringlab.