FIGURES recently released by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations predict that six industries –
FIGURES recently released by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations predict that six industries – property and business services, retail trade, health and community services, hospitality services, construction, and education – will account for 83 per cent of expected employment growth over the next five years.
Property and business services accounts for the largest share in predicted jobs growth at 28 per cent; retail trade is second with a predicted jobs growth of 19 per cent, while health and community services is expecting an employment growth of 14 per cent.
According to Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) WA president Jan Spriggs, the industries that are predicted to experience the greatest employment growth are those where the trend towards part-time and casual employment over permanent positions is most prevalent.
A recent survey of RCSA members found the demand for casual labour has increased by 37 per cent over the past six months, compared with 25 per cent for permanent employment in the past six months.
Ms Spriggs believes that, in many instances in industries such as retail trade, health and community services and hospitality services, it is the employment candidates driving this trend towards part-time and casual employment as it provides greater flexibility for employees to pursue other activities, such as further study.
Ms Spriggs told WA Business News she expects the State’s new industrial relations laws will lead to the trend of temporary employment becoming more prevalent in the hospitality services and retail industries.
“Predominantly they (hospitality and retail businesses) work outside normal core hours, so therefore they are having the impact of overtime rates. They are getting away from saying: ‘this is a flat rate’. They are then going to have to go into time and a half and double time rates, and these are the two industries that are predominantly going to be affected,” she said.
Hays Personnel Services manager Georgina Low agrees that there is a trend towards contract and temporary employment, but said business confidence was very cyclical and clients’ staffing needs generally were the major determinant of whether an organisation wanted temporary staff or permanent staff.
“Once a business is more confident (in the economy) they will start to bring permanent people on and start recruiting,” she said.
“Then they will use contract staff for what they really should be used for, which is systems implementations, overtime and project-based roles, and that’s really what they should be using contract staff for.
“But I suppose with uncertainty, people will just use contract staff in permanent roles.”
And business confidence appears to be improving, with 85 per cent of RCSA members surveyed believing that business levels would increase, up from 63 per cent in December last year. The survey also indicated that RCSA members expected the volume of business to increase by 5.8 per cent over the next six months, up from 4.9 per cent in December.
Property and business services accounts for the largest share in predicted jobs growth at 28 per cent; retail trade is second with a predicted jobs growth of 19 per cent, while health and community services is expecting an employment growth of 14 per cent.
According to Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) WA president Jan Spriggs, the industries that are predicted to experience the greatest employment growth are those where the trend towards part-time and casual employment over permanent positions is most prevalent.
A recent survey of RCSA members found the demand for casual labour has increased by 37 per cent over the past six months, compared with 25 per cent for permanent employment in the past six months.
Ms Spriggs believes that, in many instances in industries such as retail trade, health and community services and hospitality services, it is the employment candidates driving this trend towards part-time and casual employment as it provides greater flexibility for employees to pursue other activities, such as further study.
Ms Spriggs told WA Business News she expects the State’s new industrial relations laws will lead to the trend of temporary employment becoming more prevalent in the hospitality services and retail industries.
“Predominantly they (hospitality and retail businesses) work outside normal core hours, so therefore they are having the impact of overtime rates. They are getting away from saying: ‘this is a flat rate’. They are then going to have to go into time and a half and double time rates, and these are the two industries that are predominantly going to be affected,” she said.
Hays Personnel Services manager Georgina Low agrees that there is a trend towards contract and temporary employment, but said business confidence was very cyclical and clients’ staffing needs generally were the major determinant of whether an organisation wanted temporary staff or permanent staff.
“Once a business is more confident (in the economy) they will start to bring permanent people on and start recruiting,” she said.
“Then they will use contract staff for what they really should be used for, which is systems implementations, overtime and project-based roles, and that’s really what they should be using contract staff for.
“But I suppose with uncertainty, people will just use contract staff in permanent roles.”
And business confidence appears to be improving, with 85 per cent of RCSA members surveyed believing that business levels would increase, up from 63 per cent in December last year. The survey also indicated that RCSA members expected the volume of business to increase by 5.8 per cent over the next six months, up from 4.9 per cent in December.
