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THE Gold Coast’s lack of exposure to the mining sector has finally worked in its favour with unemployment levels in the city below the state and national average, according to Fiona Watson Recruitment.
Diversification into service-related businesses has kept figures at 5.69 per cent for the city, in comparison to 5.94 per cent across Queenlsand and 5.8 per cent nationally.
Director Fiona Watson (pictured) says job losses in the mining industry were bolstered by job creation in the service industry, as the sector invests in new staff.
“The Gold Coast has always followed a slightly different economic cycle than the rest of the nation and, while it may be gloomy elsewhere, things are looking positive here.
“Building approvals are up almost 200 per cent for commercial building approvals, while commercial rental space is at its lowest for years and job adverts have gone up for nine months in a row,” she says.
Watson has noticed that the increase in job vacancies has also seen a jump in the number of people applying for the positions.
“This signifies not only that there are more jobs out there, but candidates who have kept their head down in the tougher market of the last few years are now more confident about moving jobs.
“Although this may not be music to employers ears as they obviously don’t want to lose staff, it does provide opportunities to both candidates and companies alike.”
More companies are recruiting staff in line with expansion, along with established companies hiring to replace existing staff.
“Lessons learnt during the GFC are giving today’s business leaders the commercial edge, which points to the Gold Coast market reaching a level of maturity it has never had before.”
Watson says it’s a reflection of the city’s “entrepreneurial nature”, with industries such as property development, travel, tourism, childcare and information technology all predicting growth.
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