The National Skills Commission’s Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey continue to reflect a tight labour market results for July 2022.

Recruitment activity remained high at 59%, 1 percentage point higher than last month, and equal with the peak recorded in May 2022.

The recruitment difficulty rate increased substantially over the month to reach a record high of 75% of recruiting employers (representing 44% of all employers). This is an increase of 8 percentage points from last month and a new record high for the series.

The recruitment difficulty rate increased in both Capital Cities (up 8 percentage points on last month to stand at 74%) and in Rest of State areas (up by 10 percentage points to stand at 77%).

Some 80% of employers had difficulty when recruiting for Higher Skilled (ANZSCO Skill Level 1-3) occupations, an increase of 9 percentage points over the month. For Lower Skilled (ANZSCO Skill Level 4-5) occupations, the recruitment difficulty rate increased by 8 percentage points to stand at 71%.

The proportion of employers who expected to increase staffing levels over the next 3 months declined by 3 percentage points to 25% (from 28% in June 2022). Although this is the third consecutive decline in this proportion since the peak of 36% recorded in April 2022, the July 2022 figure is 7 percentage points higher compared with a year ago.