Employment indicators
Labour market U-turn – job numbers rise and earnings fall
27 May 2022
Our take on the latest Employment indicators (Fri 27 May 2022)
Filled jobs up 0.6% (sa) in April
Professional services industry experienced the strongest job growth, up 7.7%pa
Average earnings growth eased to 6.8%pa
The key numbers...
- Filled jobs reversed the downward trajectory it had been on, with job numbers up 0.6% from March, bringing annual growth to 2.9%. Filled jobs remain 1.2% below their December 2021 level, which was the highest since records began in 1999.
- Annual growth in earnings per filled job slowed to 2.6% in April, taking year-end growth down to a six-month low of 6.8%pa.
- Teenagers moved into filled jobs at a faster rate than any other age bracket in the year to April, with 18% more 15–19-year-olds in work than in the previous 12 months. The most significant fall in filled job numbers remains for 25-29-year-olds, which fell 2.2%pa in April, in line with the shrinking population in this age bracket.
- Job growth in the real estate sector eased further from its November 2021 peak of 6.4%pa, slowing to 2.8%pa in April. Construction job growth also eased from its November 2021 peak of 8.7%pa, although it remains the third-fastest growing sector, at 6.6%pa in April.
- The two sectors with the fastest growth in job numbers over the year to April were financial services and professional services, which increased 7.5% and 7.6% over this period respectively.
Softer housing market weakens sector job growth
Filled jobs, annual % change
...and our reaction
- Both filled jobs and earnings per job bucked recent trends in April, as the labour market eked out additional supply, causing job numbers to rise and earnings growth to slow. Seasonally adjusted filled jobs are now only 0.1% below their January peak.
- Recent softening in the housing market and tighter monetary policy may be contributing to the marked slowdown in real estate job growth, which slipped below 3.0%pa for the first time since March 2021.
- Although job growth in the construction sector has also eased, it is still relatively strong, as an extensive pipeline for construction activity keeps demand for construction workers high. However, the slowdown in the housing market, combined with growing costs and difficulties in sourcing workers and materials, means it is unlikely that growth in construction job numbers will reach 8.0%pa again in the near term.
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