Great expectations

AUSTRALIAN employment expectations remain strong despite abysmal investor sentiment at home and stormy macroeconomic news around the world.

The latest data from global recruiting firm Hudson confirms Australia’s positive employment outlook, reporting that more than a quarter of hiring managers intend to increase their permanent head count over the coming three months.

This confidence is powered in particular by a robust domestic resources sector where 62.4% of employers plan to hire in the first three months of 2012. While all employment sectors continue to report positive expectations, the resources industry is clearly the driving force of the trend as the resource-rich states of Queensland and Western Australia boast the highest overall employer confidence in the country.

Hudson measures employer confidence across all sectors at 60.0% for Queensland and 45.1% for Western Australia, a strong hint that the boom in resources is bleeding into related industries.  

“As recorded last quarter, the two-speed economy continues to drive significant differences in employer sentiment between the sectors, with those industries connected to resources remaining on the whole most upbeat,” said Hudson national practice leader for technical and engineering Neville Andrews. “Industries outside of resources are more closely reflecting the global economic uncertainty.”

The continued positivity in Australia’s recruiting estimates is at stark odds with the employment woes of other world markets and our own plummeting investor sentiment. In fact, the newest numbers from financial research company CoreData show investor confidence has dropped even lower than it was during 2009’s global financial crisis.

The company’s quarterly investor sentiment index marks Australian confidence at its lowest point since 2005, after seven consecutive quarters of negative performance.

With mineral-rich Western Australia posting the most positive sentiment, CoreData’s figures seem to be in step with the idea that a thriving resource industry is what separates Australia from the economic strugglers of Europe and the US. But although success in resources has led to bullish recruiting plans, global financial gloom is leaving a distinct mark on Australian morale.

‘The continued slide in sentiment we’ve seen since the beginning of 2011 is reflective of the global turmoil in Europe and concerns about how this might impact the investment landscape in Australia,” CoreData head of advice, wealth and super Kristen Turnbull said. “The negative sentiment can be attributed to pessimism about growth prospects for the Australian economy, the current financial situation of households and low investment intention this quarter.”

The report also highlighted that two in five Australians say their household is financially worse off than 12 months ago and that one in three respondents is not making ends meet. But despite this and consistent pessimism about business prospects, the report shows a surprising amount of optimism for the future financial position of households. Less than a third of respondents expect their situation to be worse a year from now.