WA has gone against the national trend by recording a 1.35 per cent increase in advertised information technology and telecommunication positions for the year to May.
A new report by Olivier Recruitment Group found a 9.7 per cent fall in the number of advertised IT and T jobs across the country. WA’s performance is all the more impressive when compared with figures in NSW and Victoria, which posted falls of 13 per cent and in 3.97 per cent respectively.
Olivier Recruitment Group director Robert Olivier said the disappointing national figure was a result of US firms tightening their belts, and economic pressures on local telcos.
“This primarily reflects global job cutting by the major US IT groups and performance pressures on the big Australian telcos, a knock-on effect from the One.Tel collapse,” Mr Olivier said.
The news for those who are looking for work in the multimedia and Internet sector is even worse. Despite a rise in jobs advertised last month, there are now less than a quarter of the jobs advertised in the sector than at the same time last year.
Dunhill Management business manager Glenn Beauchamp had not expected the positive WA figures for IT and T jobs.
“I’m very surprised that it has grown because a lot of organisations have been shedd-ing staff. If you look back, a few businesses have gone to the wall and big employers like ERG and CFC have not renewed any contracts and have consolidated their staff,” Mr Beauchamp said.
He suggested any growth experienced in the sector might be due to businesses and the government having committed to projects before the economic downturn and now having to follow them through.
However, Mr Beauchamp suggested the outlook for the sector was looking brighter. He said companies were looking to expand their people resources in this financial year.
“I think we’ve gone through quite a difficult period and the sound businesses have done okay and I’m very optimistic about the growth prospects,” he said.
