New jobs in goods sectors like construction, logistics and manufacturing rose in January as professional and services jobs fell.
The finding was contained in the January report by leading jobs provider Seek Australia.
SEEK senior economist Dr Blair Chapman says that “in seasonally adjusted terms, this January was the fastest growing since January 2021” with three consecutive months of trend growth.
“This month, like much of the past quarter, demand growth was concentrated in cyclical, goods-linked sectors such as construction and manufacturing, and transport and logistics, while many professional and service-based roles continued to retreat.”
He says the labour market overall is neither accelerating nor declining: “It appears to be stabilising at a subdued level”.
“Whether this modest momentum can be sustained will depend on business confidence, consumer spending, and the trajectory of interest rates in the months ahead.”
Seek says job ads rose 0.7% month-on-month and are up 1.1% on the same time last year but applications per job ad fell 1.8% in December 2025; it warned that there was a month-long lag in its applications data but noted that their monthly total was the sixth straight fall.
STATE AND TERRITORY JOBS
On geography, it says ad numbers for January compared to the month before (December) increased in most states and territories.
The fastest growth in jobs ads came from Tasmania (1%), Western Australia (0.8%) and South Australia (0.8%); the Northern Territory remained flat and the Australian Capital Territory recorded the only monthly drop (-0.2%).
Seek says Tasmania’s monthly job ad increase was its first consecutive monthly rise since January 2024, partly caused by a 1.2% monthly jump in healthcare and medical job ads, the largest hiring industry in the state.
On the ACT and NT job markets, Seek says there have been falling demand for workers in most of the territories’ largest industries like health care and medical (-10.8%) in the NT and Information & Communication Technology (-18.1%) in the ACT.
It says despite monthly rises, job ads in New South Wales and Victoria remain below January 2025 levels due partly to a shortfall in Education and Training, Information and Communication Technology, and Healthcare and Medical ads.
On a year-by year basis (January 2026 to January 2025), it says the ACT recorded the largest fall (11.8%), then NT with -10%, Tasmania with -4.7%, Victoria with -1.3% and NSW with -1.4 %.
Year on year, Seek says its South Australia market grew 4.8%, 2.8% in WA and 1.2% in Queensland.
INDUSTRY BY INDUSTRY
On a monthly basis, manufacturing, transport and logistics job ads rose 1% and construction ads rose 1.2% (for another month), and trades and services rose 0.3% based on holiday demand.
Hospitality and tourism job ads rose 0.8% for the month while the retail and consumer sectors posted a 0.4% rise in advertised jobs.
But Information & Communication Technology job ads fell 0.9%, a decline that started in 2022, and Seek says the education and training sector registered one of its largest monthly ad declines at -1.7%.
Health care and medical ads fell -0.6% for the month, a decline for a traditionally resilient sector entering the new year.
On a quarterly base, much of the growth in job vacancies was concentrated in the construction and industrial sectors; engineering roles up 4.2% quarter-on-quarter and manufacturing, transport and logistics rose 3.6%.
The public sector has been declining across the board this quarter as has much of the professional services and consumer services sectors.
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