By Martin Vedris

SYDNEY: A survey of 2,597 employers across Australia revealed that Australia’s employment market is continuing to show strength for the rest of 2007, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released yesterday.

The survey revealed that business managers are intending to be more active in their hiring for the last quarter of 2007.

Manpower stated that Australia’s employment market is continuing to show strength for the rest of 2007, with a Net Employment Outlook of +29% in the October – December quarter of 2007, compared to +24% in the previous quarter. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the outlook remains at an optimistic +29%, representing a two percentage point improvement over both the July – August quarter and the October – December quarter of 2006.

“Australia’s employment outlook is very encouraging. The slight increase in hiring intentions compared to the previous quarter appears to show that hiring managers are again feeling more confident about taking on new staff over the next quarter,” said Scott McLachlan, managing director, Manpower, Australia and New Zealand

“This confidence and increase in demand must be balanced against the tight labour market that exists across Australia as the skills shortage is continuing to create very real structural changes to the workforce already, meaning that companies must now be rethinking their strategies to ensure they can attract and keep the right talent,” McLachlan said.

“Seasonally adjusted data reveals there is a general increase in hiring confidence with employers in four of the seven regions surveyed expecting to take on more staff over the next three months with Northern Territory, Sydney and Tasmania showing the most considerable growth. In comparison to this time last year, only Queensland employers expect to slow the pace of hiring,” McLachlan noted.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It has been running for more than 40 years and is based on interviews with over 51,000 public and private employers in 27 countries and territories worldwide.