The Job Market Has Cooled a Bit… But Let’s Not Get Carried Away

The latest SEEK data is in for March, and it’s things have eased slightly, but they’re still in decent shape.

There’s a tendency in this market to swing from “everything’s booming” to “the sky is falling” and the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

Job Ads Down… But Still Solid

Job ads dropped a touch in March and are down a couple of percent on last year. Sounds negative, but we’re still sitting around pre-COVID levels which, not that long ago, was considered a strong market. So yes, it’s cooled a little bit, but it hasn’t crashed

WA Carrying On As Usual

WA is doing what WA tends to do - getting on with it while the rest of the country slows down.

It’s the only state with job ads up year-on-year, driven by mining, engineering and construction. Nothing new there, but it does reinforce a point: If you’re in resources in WA, you’re still in a good spot.

Not All Industries Are Equal Right Now

This is where it gets more interesting.

Some sectors are still pushing ahead:

Mining and resources
Engineering
Construction
Transport and logistics

Others are clearly quieter:

Banking
Professional services
Public sector
Call centres

So when people say “the market is slowing”… it depends where you sit.

AI Is Everywhere… But It’s Not Taking Over (Yet)

AI keeps popping up in the data - mentions of AI in job ads are up around 75%.

That’s a big jump, but in reality, it’s still a small portion of total hiring.

Salaries Are Going Up… But Most People Don’t Feel It

Advertised salaries are rising again - about 4% year-on-year.

On paper, that’s solid, but speak to most people and they’ll tell you they don’t feel any better off.

That’s because:

Mortgage repayments are up
Fuel is still expensive
Day-to-day costs haven’t eased
And not everyone can just jump jobs to get a pay rise

So there’s a bit of a lag between what the data says and what people are actually experiencing.

Whats Happening On The Ground

From a recruitment point of view, it lines up pretty well with what we’re seeing day to day:

It’s slightly easier than it was 12–18 months ago
But good people are still hard to find
Strong candidates still have options
And clients still need to move reasonably quickly

In other words - more balanced, but still competitive.

The Bottom Line

The market has cooled a bit.

But it’s not weak - it’s just more normal.

And after the last few years, that’s probably no bad thing.

If you want to read the full SEEK report, it’s here:

https://www.seek.com.au/about/news/article/seek-employment-report-march26