Wait and see sentiment permeates the Australian market
What is the general feeling across the marketplace? Lincoln Crawley highlights the key findings of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2013.
The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results showed hiring sentiment for the second quarter of 2013 will remain subdued, as local economic and political uncertainty continue to affect employers.
The Manpower survey measures over 2,200 Australian employers’ hiring intentions for the coming quarter. The results for the second quarter of 2013 showed that 13 per cent of Australian employers plan to decrease hiring, 21 per cent plan to increase hiring and 65 per cent will make no changes to their hiring plans. This resulted in a Net Employment Outlook of +4 per cent, which is down eight percentage points from the same time last year.
We’ve seen a number of conflicting economic indicators recently that have affected employer’s outlook. Consumer and business sentiment recovered slightly in January, while retail sales during December were weak and building approvals were also subdued.
These conflicting indicators, coupled with the uncertainty an election year brings, are causing employers to take a wait and see attitude to hiring.
In a year-on-year comparison, the survey results show most sectors in Australia were subdued. Employers in Mining and Construction reported an outlook of +2 per cent, down 17 percentage points from the same quarter last year, the Public Administration and Education sector reported an outlook of +1 per cent which was down nine percentage points.
Employers in Transport and Utilities reported an outlook of +11 per cent, down eight percentage points year-on-year, and the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector reported a fall of three percentage points to +4 per cent.
The outlook in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate rose three percentage points to +16 per cent, and Manufacturing fell two percentage point to +2%, while the Services sector had no change, reporting an outlook of +14 per cent.
This softening across many areas in the Australian market, such as the resources sector, has meant the urgency of skills shortages has declined. However, employers need to be looking ahead at the talent they will need in the next year and work on building a workforce strategy that aligns with their business strategy.
We are seeing employers focusing on increasing efficiencies, and controlling operational costs. There is a move towards role flexibility with employees increasingly wearing two or three ‘hats’ to improve workforce efficiency.
Lincoln Crawley is the managing director of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand. He joined the company in 1997 in New Zealand, following a successful career in IT and Telecommunications. He made his mark by establishing Manpower’s IT practice in New Zealand which resulted in his promotion to Country Manager the following year. In 2001, Lincoln moved to Australia, where he established Manpower’s successful Managed Services & Recruitment Processing Outsourcing (RPO) business and was subsequently appointed as the Director of Sales. Following a successful two year assignment with Manpower Asia Pacific as the Regional Sales Director and Head of Manpower’s Managed Services business, Lincoln returned to Australia in September 2008 as the Managing Director for Manpower Australia & New Zealand.
