Finance sector suffers second quarterly decline in hiring intentions

A recent survey conducted by ManpowerGroup Australia, titled the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, has revealed that the finance, insurance and real estate sector has suffered a second quarterly decline in hiring intentions.

According to ManpowerGroup, the overall outlook for this sector is now “well off its six-year high” at the end of 2018.

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey collected data from over 59,000 employers in 43 countries, including 1,500 in Australia.

All survey participants were asked how they anticipated total employment at their location to change in Q4FY19 compared to the current quarter.

According to the workforce solutions provider, the outlook for the finance, insurance and real estate sector sits at +9 per cent for the June quarter in 2019, which is down 6 points from the previous quarter.

Nevertheless, ManpowerGroup also announced that the positive outlook for Q4FY19 indicates that “more employers in the sector expect to increase hiring levels than not”.

The Net Employment Outlook is calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers anticipating a decrease in hiring activity from the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in employment. Seasonal adjustment is then applied to the data.

The employment outlook is strongest across the public administration (+16 per cent) and services (+12 per cent) sectors.

Year-on-year change for the Australia Employment Outlook by sector was recorded as follows:

• -3 per cent for wholesale/retail trade   
• -7 per cent for transportation and utilities
• -2 per cent for services
• +7 per cent for public administration/education
• -3 per cent for mining and construction
• -1 per cent for manufacturing
• -2 per cent for finance insurance and real estate

[Related: Confidence in NSW property market drops]