Labour Market Trends in Australia

The purpose of the report is to analyse the market trends and career opportunities in the Australian Labour market. I am a postgraduate student in Masters of Professional Accounting Advanced Degree Majoring in Finance; therefore I am looking for an opportunity to work in the Accounting and Financial Service Sector. This report analyses the market trends of the Financial Service industry and this report will also determine the current and future career prospects of this particular industry. This report also researches on past, present and future market trend along with employment and unemployment data from the relevant source of information to understand the situation in Labour Market of Australia. Finally, this report provides the in-depth evaluation of innovative job-seeking process to present the holistic approach of the career development.

At the beginning of the report, Labour Market trends of the financial service industry are provided in recent time in Australia. In addition, national and state employment trends in all industries are outlined along with career opportunities in the financial service industry. The report is looked at the role of recruitment based agencies in Accounting and Financial Service Industries. The cultural challenges of the future workplace are also described. in the final section, a job-seeking plan is provided to assess the true value of the job search and overall career development.

Labour Market trends in the financial service industry

Labour market situation has been strengthened after June 2016 and the level of employment in all sectors increased by almost 1.9% in Australia (Imip.gov.au 2018). The annual average rate of growth of the labour market in Australia is the highest in the last five years and it is noted that employment growth is particularly strong after 2015 second half. As published in the report by Yang et al. (2017), female participation was accounted for almost 60% of employment growth and it is worth notice that female employment was up by almost 135,300 compare to just 88,000 for males in the year 2016-17. The shift to the part-time job in overall sectors is also seen in the aggregate monthly hours. On the other side, the level of unemployment fell by 3.2% in Australia and the unemployment rate was declined by almost 6% since the year 2015. In the financial service and accounting industry, the unemployment rate is just 0.1% and the participation rate of the employment has been increased over the period between 2016 and 2017 (Imip.gov.au 2018). Financial services employ more than 456,600 employees in both full time and part-time; this data also reflects that the financial service industry employs almost 3.6% of the total workforce in Australia (Jobs.gov.au 2018). In the last five years, the labour market trend has been showing the growth of employment and the employment in the financial service industry has increased by flat 9%. The average age of the employees in the Financial service industry is 39 years and average earning of the employees is AU$ 1,500 per week (apart from tax) for the employees who work for a full time (Jobs.gov.au 2018).

Employment and Unemployment in Financial Service Industry

It has been observed that in the last 24 months, the strongest employment growth was observed in New South Wales (almost 4.2%) and in Queensland (almost 2.5%). However, the employment trend has been declined in the areas of the Northern Territory (-1.5%) and in Tasmania (-1.1%) (Aph.gov.au 2018). In last 24 months, it has been observed that employment opportunities trend has been the highest in the Health Care and Social Assistance in Australia and second position is taken by the Retail Trade ( up 68,400) and Financial Service Industry is on the third position (up by 39,400) (Imip.gov.au 2018). Australian Government department of Employment shared the total employment review showing the projected growth in overall employment sector is 7.8% in the next five years. In the national level, the projected growth of employment in Australia is expected to accelerate and it shows the importance of an optimistic future in the Australian Labour market. As commented by Termstra and Verbeeten (2014), the unemployment trend rate in Australia at present is 5.5% and compared to 6% in 2016. The unemployment rate in overall industries has been increased in the Northern Territory (5.9%), Western Australia (4.4%) and Southern Australia (7.2%). In the financial service industry, the trend of the unemployment rate has been decreased in mainly Queensland and New South Wales (6.1%) (Aph.gov.au 2018). In Australia, the migrant unemployment rate has several factors like skill level, English issue proficiency, age and relevant work experience. The employment and unemployment rates of Australia appear mainly from the macro level which shows the job opportunities. In the state levels, the job seekers have been facing extreme competition in Victoria and NSW. In the financial service industry, the prospect is high as many of the international companies are coming to Australia and they provide higher employment rate in urban sections. Trend employment has been increased in Queensland (2.4) and NSW (4.1%) over the last 12 months in Australian Labour market in state and territory level.

In the financial services sector, the recruitment of the employees has not been accelerated in the past two years.

	Nov 17 (‘000)	Feb 18 (‘000)	May 18 (‘000)	Aug 18 (‘000)
Financial services industry	435.8	436.7	434.4	456.6

Table 1: employment figure in the financial service industry

(Source: Ausbanking.org.au 2018)

Financial service sector provides 10 types of occupations like banking, financial investment, financial brokers, credit loan officers, insurance, accountants, financial dealers and financial managers. The improvement of the labour market situation has been observed since 2016 and the on-going structural shift has been observed to more labour-intensive services. In addition, the service-based industry has been observing record-number of employment recruitment. Reflecting the strengthening in the overall employment rate in Australia, the condition of the young job seekers in the financial service sector has been improved since June 2016. The youth unemployment rate has been declined over the period of 2015 and 2016 and it stood at 13.2% (Imip.gov.au 2018). The financial service sector has been observing the growth of recruitment after the international companies started the recruitment for full-time employment in Australia. Some of the international financial service providers are AXA, Allianz, JP Morgan Chase, Prudential and Barclays. In Australia, the largest financial service provider is National Bank of Australia and it is in the banking sector (revenue is AU$ 47.9 million), some of the other financial service providers in Australia are Westpac Bank, AMP Bank and ANZ. Financial service sector provides almost 3.6% of the total workforce in Australia. Employment growth in Australia in the last five years is 36.1 (‘000) and employment growth in Australia shows the percentage of 8.6% (Austrade.gov.au 2018). The following table shows that the forecast of employment rate in Australia in the financial service sector provides job opportunities as it is showing strong growth possibilities.

Employment characteristics in the Financial service sector	Data
Male share of employment as per Aug 2018 (%)	51.5
Female share of employment as per Aug 2018 (%)	48.5
Average full-time hours	39
Median weekly earnings	AU$1400
Projected employment growth (till 2023) (‘000)	14.2
Projected employment growth (till 2023) (%)	3.2

Occupation Opportunities in Financial Service Industry

Table 2: Employment characteristics in financial services

(Source: Imip.gov.au 2018)

In 2018, Australian Government Regulators continues to oversee the conduct of financial institutions and these institutions play a key role in driving demand. In Australia, NAB and ANZ are going through the structural change in Australia related to the new customer service experiences. It has been observed that the healthcare industry is accelerating faster in Australia and the construction industry takes the third place. I am currently studying postgraduate in Masters of Professional Accounting Advanced Degree Majoring in Finance. Therefore, my sole aim is to make a career in the financial service industry as a financial service industry is associated with various paths like banking, insurance, financial institutions and credit officers. Financial services industry is projected to be in the fourth position in employment growth after the construction industry. Within the classification, almost 150,000 employees are working in the banks and other people are working in the credit unions and other financial service industry. However, the unemployment rate in the financial service sector is average at 3.1% in the last five years. In the financial service sector, 9% of employees are working here in underemployment and underemployment is higher between the aged group 30s and 40s (Ausbanking.org.au 2018).

I would like to focus on two industries to make my future, primary target will be financial services sector and secondary target would be construction industry where I can make my career as accountants. I have recognised an alternative career path which is different from my proffered career in the financial services industry. Sometimes, I feel like I am not comfortable with seating always in a desk and I would like to make my career where I have to travel for the projects. The construction industry caters in a different section for those interested in labourers, management and finance. The construction industry is expected to grow by 10.9% over the next five years.

Key stakeholders of the financial services industry are the government, industry bodies, regulators, employees and customers. Cultures in bank shape the way people talk, act and don’t act on a daily basis. The culture within the financial services organisations is visible through the actions and choices of the employees and other stakeholders (Mazanec et al. 2015). The right culture can align people’s values and it sets the behaviour with the strategy of the firms. Greet Hofstede shared the cultural dimension concept and he defined that there are six different cultural dimensions. Power distance dimension talks about inequality which exists within the workplace between subordinates. I will be working in the Australian financial services organisation and Australia scores low in power distance. Low power distance characterises the flatter organisation and financial service sector in Australia shows almost equality between supervisors and employees. In addition, individualism and collectivism show the strength of the relationship that individuals have with others in the community. Australia scores high in individualism and high scores refers to the high value placed on people’s time and respect to the privacy of the people. In the Australian job market, another issue comes from the distinction between common people and indigenous people. The job seekers need to show the confidence in order to get the job and the employees must show the interpersonal skills to have the employability. In the workplace, Australians like to call the employees and supervisors by their name; it is quite different from other culture. In financial service sector; the employees have to understand the requirement of a different culture as the employees have to manage the clients as well.

International Recruitment in Australian Financial Service Industry

I am interested in making my career in the financial service industry as this industry has enough opportunity and it shows a good growth rate. In addition, the financial service industry has its association with 10 other job roles. I am an international graduate and I have a goal to secure permanent residency in Australia. In order to be a part of the financial services industry, I am doing the postgraduate in finance. During the leisure, I always check vacancies in the financial service sector to enter the industry with the intention of grabbing the accounts as soon as possible.  

Specific: I am going to follow the job-seeking plan, focusing mainly on an accountant or any financial roles in the financial services industry in Sydney particularly. My job-seeking plan will have a specific aim to identify the best recruiters in the city and establishes a solid idea to gain insights into the financial service industry. Relationship with external recruiters will provide me access to the hidden job market.

Measurable: This job-seeking plan can be measured in the future when the extremal recruiting agencies will call me for informing me about job opportunities. I can also have the calls from the financial service employers.

Achievable: I want to use innovative job-seeking strategies like attending the seminars, networking events, making LinkedIn profiles, pursuing recruiters and publishing my own business cards. I want to make a list of potential financial service organisations that I want to join in future. I will also check the vacancies and eligibility criteria to apply for the posts.

Realistic: Job-seeking plan helps to improve the resume and makes a person job-ready. The job-seeking plan makes the job-seekers perfect in writing cover-letter. I am also planning to join a crash course to improve my interpersonal skills.

Time-bound: My job-seeking plan and expansion of my professional network will be completed within 6 months.

Conclusion 

It can be concluded that the Australian job market is flourishing and I want to make my career in the financial services industry. Financial services industry in Australia has been experiencing a growth of 8.6%. The projected estimated growth of financial service industry is 3.2% and research has made clear that employees are happy in this sector. I am doing my postgraduate in finance and I am going to start the job-seeking plan as well.

References

Aph.gov.au. 2018. Employment in Australia. Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/EmploymentAustralia [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

Austrade.gov.au. 2018. Australian Employment Conditions. Available at: https://www.austrade.gov.au/International/Invest/Guide-to-investing/Running-a-business/Employing-people-in-Australia/Australian-employment-conditions [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

Australia Banking. 2018. Banking statistics. Available at: https://www.ausbanking.org.au [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

Australian Government Jobs. 2018. Australian Labour Market. Available at: https://www.jobs.gov.au/annual-report-2016/analysis-trends-australian-labour-market [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

Gregory, R.G., 2015. The two-step Australian immigration policy and its impact on immigrant employment outcomes. In Handbook of the Economics of International Migration (Vol. 1, pp. 1421-1443). North-Holland.

Imip.gov.au. 2018. Financial information. Available at: https://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/GainInsights/IndustryInformation/FinancialandInsuranceServices [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

Mazanec, J.A., Crotts, J.C., Gursoy, D. and Lu, L., 2015. Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, pp.299-304.

Rallapalli, K.C. and Montgomery, C.D., 2015. Marketing strategies for Asian-Americans: guidelines based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. In Minority marketing: Research perspectives for the 1990s (pp. 73-77). Springer, Cham.

Terpstra, M. and Verbeeten, F.H., 2014. Customer satisfaction: Cost driver or value driver? Empirical evidence from the financial services industry. European Management Journal, 32(3), pp.499-508.

Yang, C., Xia, X. and Li, Y., 2017. None of My Business: CEO Financial Career and Corporate Innovation. International Journal of finance. 2(3), pp.23-34.