MEDIA RELEASE
Jan 2015
Southern states show more consistency in advertised job
vacancies - Dairy leads the way in sector growth.
Review of the Rimfire Resources’ Rural Jobs Index (RJI) internet adverts at the end of 2014 has
revealed some interesting trends as to where jobs are being advertised and what sectors are
advertising more than others.
When looking at the results on a state by state basis, QLD and NSW are the only states that have
experienced declining job advertisements by calendar year over the past 4 years. NSW has seen a
decline each year, from 1149 advertisements in 2011 to 779 advertisements in 2014. The sharpest
decline in numbers in NSW came between 2013 and 2014 where job advertisements fell by 22.8%,
with the data indicating a firm downward trend. QLD has experienced a longer, steadier decline
year on year since 2009 where there were 935 advertisements compared with 427 in 2014. The
sharpest decline in numbers in QLD again came between 2013 and 2014, where advertisements
fell by 34.7%.
In contrast, South Australia and Western Australia have seen their job advertisements increase
annually over the past four years. In 2011, South Australia had 371 advertisements compared to
481 in 2014, and between 2013 and 2014 they rose by 16.7%. Likewise in Western Australia the
numbers have risen from 69 in 2011 to 134 in 2014, with the largest jump being 46.6% between
2012 and 2013. Tasmania and Victoria‘s numbers have remained steady over the past four years,
with Victoria particularly consistent with an average of 959 internet advertisements annually since
2011.
By evaluating the advertisements by sector, the internet job advertisements tell a more interesting
story. When comparing data over the past 5 years, most sectors have seen either small declines or
increases over the 5 year period and have remained consistent in annual numbers. Sectors that
have increased more dramatically on trend over this time include Retail Distribution (average
growth over the past 4 years of 127.77%), Processing/Food Manufacturing (average growth over
the past 4 years of 35.16%) and Farm Production (Management Roles) (average growth over the
past 5 years of 23.63%). Sectors that have slid dramatically trend wise include Rural Finance
(decline on average of 27.54% over last 5 years), Crop Protection (decline on average of 12.00%
over last 5 years) and Animal Health/Nutrition (decline on average of 27.54% over last 5 years).
When reviewing the data from 2013-2014, Dairy with 77.78% growth has been the only real
advertisement growth sector of note in the last year. Most sectors saw either a slight increase or
decrease with falls beyond trend lines occurring in Retail Distribution (-29.27%), Farm Machinery
(-46.89%) and Government Roles(-44.06%).
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