After a strong start to the year, the transport sector jobs mark may be plateauing
The number of jobs being advertised in the transport and logistics sector has levelled out and may fall in the months ahead, the Labourforce Impex transport, logistics and supply chain job index for February has revealed.
Specialist transport recruitment firm Labourforce’s monthly research indicates opportunities in the sector have risen 17 per cent since the first index was compiled in January last year.
But the vast majority of that improvement occurred in the first part of those 14 months, with the index actually falling by 1.6 per cent over the last quarter, and by 0.3 per cent in February.
“The long term trend has clearly been up but this cannot continue unabated,” Labourforce spokesman Paul McLeay says.
“The market may well have plateaued but at a very strong level.”
While there was an overall contraction of jobs last month, McLeay says it is interesting to note that permanent opportunities did enjoy growth, up 1.9 per cent. Contract and temporary roles dropped off by 4.2 per cent over the month.
“There is a definite trend away from temporary to permanent hiring reflecting confidence amongst employers,” McLeay says.
In the same way, rank and file staff are in more demand than their managers.
Demand for store persons and freight handlers was regathering momentum in particular, up 6.4 per cent for the month, while advertisements for managerial appointments continued their downward trend, by 3.9 per cent in February.
McLeay says economic concerns across the Australian economy are unlikely to affect the transport sector negatively.
“Economic signals are mixed but with a weakening dollar and further interest rate falls on the horizon, the [transport employment] market should stay strong.”