FOREWORD

In one day two of the world’s biggest investment banks collapsed. On the 15th September 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while Merrill Lynch scrambled into a fire sale merger with the Bank of America. The impact reverberated around the world and 12 months on the global employment landscape has continued to be transformed by these events.

To date, $10.4 billion dollars of budget surplus has been poured back into the Australian economy. Later in this newsletter we’ll take a look at employment around the world and benchmark Australia’s performance against other G20 economies.

In Australia, job ads have posted a growth of 4.1% in August 2009. The optimism has seen a resurgence in demand for career management services. Identifying your career options and making the next move on your own terms is fundamental to proactively managing your career.

People who take charge of their careers have invested time and effort in laying foundations, creating opportunities, making connections and raising their profile in the market place. Ongoing career management has empowered them to make better, more informed and proactive career choices.

Those unfortunate enough to find themselves in career transition as a result of redundancy don’t often feel they have the luxury of time. Many people find it hard to know what to do at first or feel that they must jump into employment, any employment, as soon as possible either due to financial or social pressures. Some people need to keep busy and immediately start updating and sending out their resume, others need time to process their new situation and think things through.

As the marketplace starts to pick up, employers will have the choice as to who they will employ and will choose the people with the freshest skills and the most up-to-date knowledge.

Remember, finding and keeping employment is a marketing exercise. Let us help you.

Bruce Gregory
Chief Executive Officer 


Job Advertisements- The First Growth in 16 Months
ANZ job advertisements seasonally adjusted newspaper and internet job advertisements
The rise in internet and newspaper job advertisements experienced in July 2009, has given reason to a cautious air of optimism by some experts at the ANZ, proposing that it represents the strongest sign of economic recovery.


Unemployment rate steady as employers hoard talent

Unemployment statistics for July have indicated that the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 5.8%, however 48,000 workers have switched to part time work and 16,000 full time jobs were lost over the same period (Australian Bureau of Statistics).
Craig James, chief economist at CommSec has said that the flexibility of workers and businesses to buy hours and pay, rather than jobs has paid off because it ensures that employers can secure talent for the future. (Source: “Unemployment rate steady as employers hoard talent” www.ninemsn.com.au 06.08.09)

News in brief:
“IF YOU'VE recently been asked by your employer to take unpaid leave, work less or consider going part-time, you're not alone.  Part-time employment has surged over the past year at the expense of full-time work, highlighting the need for a flexible workforce.

According to the chief economist at CommSec, Craig James, it also indicates that businesses are cautious, believing the downturn will prove temporary. 

Last financial year the number of part-time jobs increased by 99,000 while full-time jobs fell by 114,700.  Advertised vacancies are continuing to fall, having already dropped by about half in the past 10 months.”(Source: “It's your job to hang in there” Bina Brown August 23, 2009 The Sun-Herald)


How is Australia Doing?
Now for a look at how Australia is faring against the rest of the world. We compare the Australian economy, focussing mainly on unemployment statistics, to the economies of Japan, the UK and the USA.

Australia’s unemployment rate as of July 2009, as previously mentioned, stands at 5.8%. This represents 670,500 persons that are currently unemployed (ABS July 2009). In the 2009/2010 Federal Budget, handed down on May 12 2009, the Department of Treasury forecasted the jobless rate to peak at 8.5% in the 2010/2011 financial year; this represents 982 500 persons unemployed.

Currently the Japanese unemployment rate stands at 5.7%, the highest unemployment rate that Japan has experienced since records began in 1953 (McCurry 2009). This represents over 3.59 million persons unemployed, five times that of Australia. Analysts predict that unemployment in Japan will rise to 6% in 2010, meaning that over 4.3 million Japanese will be unemployed.

The United Kingdom, one of the nations that have been most affected by the global economic crisis. Currently the unemployment rate stands at 7.8%, representing 2.43 million British unemployed. The CBI (The UK’s Business Voice) has predicted that unemployment will reach 9.6% in mid 2010, meaning over 3 million persons will be unemployed.

Currently unemployment is 9.7%, meaning that 6.9 million Americans are out of work; this is the highest level since June 1983 (US Bureau of Labour Statistics). Unemployment in the USA is expected to rise to 10.1% in 2010, representing 7.2 million persons out of work.

Australian figures are clearly a cause for optimism, and suggest that Australia is in the recovery phase of a downturn. Although the number of job advertisements has decreased, Warren Hogan of ANZ states that Australia has been prevented from falling into a recession because the weak job demand has not translated into job shedding.