There are several key indicators that suggest how well the nation’s businesses are performing, and their willingness to recruit staff is one of them. After all, if companies are in a good position, it’s more likely that they will be looking to increase their headcount.
As a result, the latest data from Roy Morgan Research could point towards positivity in the corporate sector. The group revealed that in May this year, 10.3 per cent of the workforce were unemployed. This was down slightly from the 10.4 per cent recorded the previous month and lower than the 11.7 per cent average seen in the first quarter of 2014.
The group’s Gary Morgan highlighted that employment opportunities have largely improved over the past year. One issue that still needs to be addressed is under-employment, which remains a risk across the country as a whole.
This positivity in the business sector at the moment could result in increased purchases of import costing software and other industry-specific programmes. Companies may be in search of new ways to streamline their operations, as well as make day-to-day tasks simpler for new and existing members of staff.
Official data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that unemployment increased across the country in April, rising 0.1 percentage points to reach 6.2 per cent. There was a fall in the number of people in employment, which was mainly a result of decreases in male full-time employment and the number of women taking on part-time roles.
The ABS also revealed a rise in the number of aggregate monthly hours worked by staff. This increased 1.1 per cent – or 17.8 million hours – over the course of April. There has also been an upswing in the amount of people in search of part-time work only, which may be contributing to the under-employment problem.
