Hiring for Aussie IT execs recovering

Employment trends for Australian executive-level IT positions have recovered from recent declines, growing 26% in February, according to E.L. Consult.

According to the executive search company’s latest E.L. Index — a measure of executive-level hiring activity — hiring activity for ICT positions improved 26% over the previous month. But the index remains down significantly from the same period last year, at 133 compared to 166.

But the ICT sector was the weakest performing of the five sectors covered in the index — which also includes engineering, finance, management and marketing. The top performing sectors — marketing, finance and management — all improved by at least 60%.

Across the five sectors, the overall index improved by 47%, in a result which E.L. Consult Managing Director Grant Montgomery said heralds the promise off a possible jobs boom later this year.

“The E.L. Index has been trending upwards for some months now but I have never seen a monthly increase of this magnitude since [we] began collecting data 25 years ago. The total number of new executive positions available are now back to levels last seen a decade ago in October 2011 and before the real effects of the recession following the global financial crisis hit Australia,” he said.

“This overall strength in the figures is no surprise, and given that executive hiring and firing precedes general employment we expect that the general unemployment figures will start to really shine in the next 3 to 6 months.”

Montgomery said the reasons for the strong growth outlook are many, and include a revival in the resources sector and continuing strong growth in the building and construction industry.

“This is the lightning rod, bringing light to the realisation that the economy is going well, the Australian dollar is relatively stable and interest rates are at levels that enable businesses to borrow and expand,” he said.

“Energy exports are contributing the overall outlook, coal prices are finally rising and Australia has ramped up natural gas production to enable Australia to boast its smallest current account deficit in 37 years.”

Western Australia and Queensland were by far the strongest performing regions in the E.L. Index for February, but the sheer number of jobs in New South Wales and Victoria were the biggest drivers of overall growth.

Image courtesy of Paul Townsend under CC