Employment Market Trends Quarter 3 | 24/25
A lot has happened since our previous quarterly report, some of it expected, a lot of it not. On one side, fears of global tariff wars have become realised and global markets are in turmoil. On the other, Australia’s economy continues to grow, inflation is falling, household income is up and the cash rate was reduced to 4.10%.
As you’ll see in this report, the end of FY24-25 will likely be slow and cautious. Talent mobility remains low on the Northern Beaches, and the upcoming federal election has businesses waiting to see what happens next. Still, positivity remains that things will continue to get better, and that 2025 as a whole will be the year of fresh progress.
Northern Beaches in review
It’s been a challenging economic environment for especially smaller businesses, and this is reflected in the local jobs data.
While the number jobs grew overall, online job advertisements in this part of Sydney have fallen steadily since 2022 – a sign of caution among employers. We expect 2025’s improved economy to affect these numbers, adding some much-earned optimism back to the Northern Beaches.
- YOY employment growth: 0.9%
- Unemployment rate: 3.9% (up from 3.2% last year)
- Monthly change in total job advertisements: -5.2% (-14% YOY)
- Workforce participation rates declined slightly through to Feb 2025, and youth unemployment also rose (6.7% to 8%).
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Labour Market Dashboard Sydney North and West
Proportion of online job ads by skill level:
- Skill Level 1 – Bachelor degree or higher: 40%
- Skill Level 2 – Advanced diploma or diploma: 12%
- Skill Level 3 – Certificate III or IV: 14%
- Skill Level 4 – Certificate II or III: 24%
- Skill Level 5 – Certificate I or secondary education: 10%
Note the large proportion of job ads seeking highly skilled individuals. Like many other parts of Australia, the Northern Beaches market has a shortage in key skills areas, particularly software programming, nursing and management.
Employment trends
One major factor that is expected to influence employment trends as we proceed through to the end of FY24-25 is the federal election. Project work, major transformations and general hiring activity have slowed in the lead-up to the potential change of government, with Northern Beaches organisations holding back in case of major policy disruption. Slashes to public sector roles or changes to migration could have a notable impact on local jobs, but we’ll have to wait and see what the next government changes (or doesn’t). Either way, the expectation is that the market will open up again after May 3.
The beaches is seeing a growing nervousness among candidates about transparency in the jobs market. Candidates have been citing reduced trust in job boards and a feeling that roles are not being accurately or appealingly described. Great candidates are being deterred by AI-written job ads that fail to capture the full scope of the role, and pay in particular has been very opaque – by the end of 2024, only 37% of jobs ads revealed pay expectations (albeit this is an increase from 21% five years ago).
With demand for skilled candidates high and competition hot across Sydney for the best people, Northern Beaches organisations are adding more substance to their job ads. Selling the ‘whole opportunity’ is becoming vital for attracting attention and aligning on values, particularly when headhunting unique individuals from their existing roles.
Learn more: How selling the whole opportunity helps win passive talent
Sources: Indeed, 2025 AU Jobs & Hiring Trends Report
What Job Seekers Are Saying
Candidates are becoming increasingly frustrated by fake job listings, which have risen in frequency since the pandemic. These ‘ghost jobs’ appear genuine, but have been posted by companies which are not actively recruiting. One commentator, Ben Hamer, estimated that up to one third of job listings in Australia could be ghost jobs.
To candidates lured by these attractive, but misleading, posts, it can make job hunting feel like a waste of time. In response, Sydney’s best talent is resorting to alternative methods to ensure that the roles they’re applying for are legitimate, such as applying through local recruiters and finding work via their network.
Ghost jobs don’t just impact candidates, they impact other employers; reduced trust in the market can reduce the total number of quality applicants, exacerbating hiring difficulties. This is another reason that the use of specialist local recruiters is growing in popularity, as professionals like ours essentially act as trusted mediators between candidates and employers.
mme’s local expert opinion
The beginning of the 2025 calendar year has been tricky for employers on the Beaches, held back by a lack of available quality, skilled candidates. We’ve noticed shortages in a number of skills areas beyond the usual suspects (like healthcare and tech) – admin and customer service roles, for example, have also been hard to fill.
With rising cost-of-living pressures, job seekers are prioritising roles which offer secure, long-term employment over short-term contracts. Meanwhile, the employers who are winning all of this great talent are those who can offer work-life balance and hybrid work options, which continue to be highly desirable for candidates in this part of Sydney (even in traditionally on-site roles like healthcare).
It’s going to be another complicated few months as we wait and see what happens next in the Australian economy, and cost-of-living pressures aren’t going anywhere just yet. In this market, the war for talent won’t be won with great roles and appealing office locations, but broad EVPs (employer value propositions) which include better, more flexible, more valuable benefits than competitors.
Employment Market Trends Quarter 2 24/25
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