Geelong remains resilient - job numbers hold strong

Geelong Careers jobs show Geelong is resiliently bouncing back from the impacts of Covid 19 in 2020. A quick comparison with the same period last year demonstrates the impact of the two shutdowns Victoria experienced on our job numbers which dropped to 536 in August 2020, from 930 in the same month last year. But, over the past four months, our regional totals have regained and overtaken their pre Covid 19 levels.

Reliable data

Geelong Careers’ job numbers are a reliable indicator of regional economy health. Our daily live job feed draws from all public sites, as well as the big jobs boards including CareerOne, Indeed, Linked In, Adzuna and Seek. Because we are free, and far reaching, a further 400 local SME employer members also post their jobs directly. With the most regional jobs of any jobs board, Geelong Careers is uniquely placed to tell what’s happening in our regional jobs economy right now.

Reliable data

Trending Careers

Health has always been one of Geelong’s strongest trending industries, but 2020 has been an extraordinary year for careers in caring in Geelong. After briefly dipping below 2019 numbers in August, jobs in health are finishing the year almost double 2019 totals. Jacinta Kenny, Talent Acquisition Manager Barwon Health, describes this boom as a reflection of the times. “With the uncertainty of the pandemic, particularly around the economy and jobs sector, the demand on the health industry has created a huge range of stable career opportunities that appeal to many people in our community”.

Mick Fuller, Talent Acquisition Manager Epworth Geelong, believes these opportunities will continue for at least the next six months. “At Epworth, we are currently recruiting to meet anticipated increased patient demand following COVID restrictions being lowered, in addition to planned expansion of selected services not connected with the pandemic. We expect the next 6-12 months to be busy as unmet demand in the community from this year transfers to 2021. “

It is a similar story for IT careers in Geelong. As we move much of our work, recreation and education lives online, new IT opportunities are created. New jobs regularly appearing on Geelong Careers now include Cyber Security and IT project management jobs for other trending industries like education, health and transport.

Many of these positions are jobs we have never seen before, and the IT jobs numbers reflect this.
In November this year there were twice as many IT positions advertised as in November 2019.

Careers that build have been strong performers throughout the year. Our tradies have been able to continue to work throughout two Covid 19 shutdowns , so construction has remained strong. There were 139 construction jobs advertised in November 2020, compared with 141 in 2019, and this year there have been 1475 construction jobs advertised on Geelong Careers with December’s totals yet to come. This is slightly down from 2019 ‘s total of 1700 jobs.

Not unexpectedly hospitality, tourism and recreation have been dramatically impacted by the 2020 pandemic. During April jobs dropped to an all time low of only 10, compared with 42 at the same time last year.

In November we can see these jobs starting to resurge as people head for holidays, recreation and eating out. There were 72 Eat, Stay, Tour jobs loaded last month, an increase of 20% for the same time last year.

Charity, Social Work and Government jobs have been continuously strong performers over 2020. It will be interesting to keep an eye on these numbers as our economy returns to some kind of normal. We can expect government jobs to remain steady, but surge roles like transport, security and social work may reduce over the coming months. It is difficult to predict and the new way our society and economy perform may surprise us.

Need more data?

Geelong Careers can produce jobs and region data sets right across our 31 regional postcodes and for all industries. For more specific regional data please contact us at the GRLLEN on admin@grllen.com.au