Jobs To Soar In Hunter

Newcastle Herald

Thursday March 31, 2005

By GREG WENDT Business Editor

THE Hunter is poised for an employment boom, a leading business survey has found.

A recent strong surge in the region's job market is set to continue with more than 50 per cent of employers planning to increase staff levels.

Employment optimism in Newcastle and the Hunter is now higher than both state and national averages.

According to the latest Hudson Report on employment expectations, released today, the biggest job opportunities will be in the region's buoyant financial services and insurance industry sector.

But global recruitment and human resources firm Hudson, which commissioned the report, has warned that an increasing number of employers could face further skills shortages as competition for talent becomes fierce.

Hudson Newcastle manager Tim Rayner said that the business optimism was encouraging for the region, but employers would have to broaden their search for potential job candidates.

The survey of more than 8000 employers nationally indicated 50.7 per cent of the region's employers anticipated increasing their permanent employee numbers over the April-June quarter, compared with 35.8 per cent for the remainder of NSW.

Mr Rayner said the Hunter's employment optimism, which had spilled over from last year, was 10 percentage points higher than for the January quarter.

"The fact that optimism among employers in Newcastle and the Hunter remains above both state and national average is certainly very encouraging for the region," Mr Rayner said.

The most buoyant employment prospects are in the financial services and insurance industry sector, followed by the government sector and then the construction, property and engineering sector.

"At an industry level there have been a number of government agencies relocate to the Central Coast and Hunter areas which will have a bearing on the high employment expectations for the next quarter in that sector.

"However, implications are that the business community is going to have to broaden its talent search to a more national and international level to ensure they secure the best people available in the wider market."

Hudson Australia New Zealand chief executive officer Anne Hatton said that the figures revealed that on a national level seven times more employers planned to increase staff than those who anticipated shedding employees.

Editorial

Page 8

© 2005 Newcastle Herald

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