Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey
Jobs and Skills Australia surveys approximately 1,200 employers each month to find out about their experience when recruiting staff as well as whether they are expecting to increase staffing levels. This feedback provides insights about labour market conditions and to develop resources designed to help job seekers understand what employers are looking for.
The Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS) is one of a number of sources of labour market information available, including the Internet Vacancy Index (IVI), Small Area Labour Markets (SALM), the Employment Region Dashboards and Profiles the Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation (NERO), and Five-Year Employment Projections.
Key indicators - October 2022
Recruitment activity
Recruitment activity varies by location and industry and reflects other factors which may be having an impact on the economy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2022:
- 58% of employers reported recruitment activity. This was the same as last month, and 13 percentage points higher than last year. This result is also the equal-third highest monthly figure since the beginning of the series in June 2020.
- In Capital Cities the recruitment rate remained steady at 58% of employers, which is an equal-record high for this series. In Rest of State areas, the recruitment rate increased by 1 percentage point to 58% of employers.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey, October 2022
Recruitment difficulty
In October 2022, the recruitment difficulty rate increased by 3 percentage points to 70% of recruiting employers (representing 41% of all employers). This is the third-highest monthly result on record.
- The recruitment difficulty rate increased by 7 percentage points to 75% in Rest of State areas, while in Capital Cities it increased by 1 percentage point to 67%.
Proportion of recruiting employers with recruitment difficulty, by region type
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey, October 2022
Staffing outlook
Employers are asked how they expect their staffing levels to change over the next 3 months. In October 2022:
- 31% of employers expected to increase staffing levels over the next three months, 3 percentage points more than in September 2022.
- 2% of employers expected to decrease their staffing levels over the next three months.
Expectations to increase staff by region type, as a proportion of all employers
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey, October 2022
Selected quarterly results
Quarterly results are released in the December, March, June and September editions of the Recruitment Insights Report. Below are some results from the most recent quarter (September 2022 quarter).
Recruitment rate by selected industries
- Accommodation and Food Services (78%) and Health Care and Social Assistance (73%) had the highest recruitment rates in the September 2022 quarter.
- The lowest recruitment rates were for Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (42%) and Wholesale Trade (45%).
- The largest annual increase occurred for Accommodation and Food Services (+35 percentage points), due to a particularly low recruitment rate in the September quarter last year (this industry was highly affected by lockdowns at this time).
- Large annual increases also occurred for Health Care and Social Assistance (+25 percentage points) and Retail Trade (+24 percentage points).
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey, September quarter 2022
Recruitment difficulty by selected industries
- Manufacturing had the highest recruitment difficulty rate in the September 2022 quarter (79%) followed by Retail Trade (76%) and Wholesale Trade (74%). Professional, Scientific and Technical Services had the lowest recruitment difficulty rate of 62%.
- Six of the seven reported industries had an increase in recruitment difficulty from the June 2022 quarter to the September 2022 quarter. The largest quarterly increases occurred for Retail Trade (+10 percentage points) and Wholesale Trade (+10 percentage points). The difficulty rate for Construction fell by 1 percentage point.
- The largest annual changes occurred for Retail Trade (+28 percentage points) and Manufacturing (+24 percentage points).
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey, September quarter 2022
Recruitment Insights Report - October 2022
The Recruitment Insights Report highlights key findings and trends in recruitment activity, recruitment difficulty and future staffing expectations. Each report is accompanied by an excel datafile containing time series data for each key indicator. Most reports also features a 'Spotlight' section which explores a particular topic.
This month's Spotlight examines recruitment difficulty as a proportion of all employers (called the difficulty-to-population ratio), and how this measure varies across different types of regions.
Methodology
Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) conducts the Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS) to monitor recruitment activity and conditions across Australia.
The REOS surveys employers across Australia, and up to 14,000 businesses respond to the survey throughout the year.
The survey collects information on employer recruitment activity, recruitment difficulty and staffing outlook – all important indicators to help policy makers and analysts to monitor and understand current and emerging labour market conditions. Data are released as close to collection as possible, providing an almost real-time view of recruitment activity across Australia.
The REOS questionnaire continually evolves to stay current with changes in the Australian labour market that directly impact on businesses and their recruitment.
For more information on the survey methodology, key concepts used in the survey and to view the questionnaire, see the paper:
Contact Details
For information on the REOS survey email RecruitmentSurveys@jobsandskills.gov.au or telephone 1800 059 439.
For information on the Recruitment Insight Reports email RecruitmentAnalysis@jobsandskills.gov.au