Tasmania’s businesses are increasingly confident with a growing economy, and with that comes jobs.
The latest Internet Vacancy Index (IVI)* data for October shows the number of job vacancies in Tasmania were nearly thirty times higher than the national growth rate, at 17.7 per cent, compared to 0.6 per cent in trend terms compared to October last year.
The data from the Australian Department of Jobs and Small Business shows a strong increase in job vacancies across the State, which points to the fact that employers are looking to take on more staff state-wide.
The Hodgman Majority Liberal Government’s number one priority is jobs, and under our long-term plan, over a quarter of a million Tasmanians are in work, and 15,100 jobs have been created since March 2014.
Tasmanian regions experienced the highest annual growth in Australia, with regional growth of 25.6 per cent in Launceston and the north east and 18.7 per cent in Tasmania’s north west.
The IVI data shows that most of the growth in job vacancies has occurred in construction-related occupations, including machinery operators, drivers, technicians and trades workers.
This reflects our booming economy, our strong housing sector and the Government’s $2.6 billion infrastructure plan.
The latest job vacancies data comes on the back of countless reports confirming Tasmania’s economy is booming.
Last week the ABS confirmed that Tasmania is growing at its fastest rate since the Global Financial Crisis, and just yesterday the ANZ Stateometer reported Tasmania as the best performing state, with an economy growing above-trend.
The high growth in vacancies confirms what we already know – Tasmanian businesses are hiring – and this was reflected in the Stateometer, which forecasts further improvements in the unemployment rate to just 5.2 per cent next year.
*Data is sourced from counting the number of newly lodged job vacancies online from recruitment sites SEEK, CareerOne, and Australian JobSearch.