Job ads in the retail sector were down 55% in April compared to March, according to the latest data from Seek.
In its latest Employment Report, Seek paints the picture of the COVID-19 impact on jobs through the heavily disrupted month of April.
Overall, new job ads posted on the job seeking website during April were down by 65.6% year-on-year, while in month-on-month terms, job ads posted in April were down by 49.9%.
Geographically, Seek reports that NSW and Victoria remained the most heavily impacted in April, with job advertising down 52.4% and 56.3% respectively, compared to March.
Meanwhile, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory were down 42.4%, 43.9% and 41.9% in April, showing the lowest level of declines across all states and territories.
Despite these declines, Seek ANZ MD Kendra Banks said that we may be at a turning point, with early figures for May looking promising.
"It is encouraging to see that we may be at a turning point in the employment market as the latest figures in May point to an easing in the rate of job advertising decline.
"April was the first full calendar month where we had a clear indication of how COVID-19 was impacting the employment market.
"The full set of social isolation measures were not imposed until mid-March, which explains why March job ad declines were 27.4%, compared to April’s decline of 49.9%.
"In the week ended 10 May, job advertising was down 59.7% compared to the same week last year.
"At the lowest point in April, week ended 19 April shows a job ad decline of 69.1% compared to the same week in 2019.
"This 10% shift means we may have turned a corner after reaching a particularly low point of decline," she said.
Banks continued and added that retail and hospitality have been heavily impacted throughout the social isolation period but that job ads are beginning to increase.
"Different industries have been impacted in different ways, as a direct result of their operating models.
"Retail & Consumer Products and Hospitality & Tourism have suffered due to the significant restrictions imposed on their license to operate, with month on month job ad declines of 55% and 59.6% respectively.
"In the first two weeks of May, we have seen job ad volumes slowly creep back up, which aligns to the will of governments to get the economy moving and get people back into jobs.
"We know this will take some time, which is why we are cautious to be too positive at this point.
"As job ad volumes start to slowly return, candidate applications remain high, making the job seeking process even more competitive than usual," she said.
According to the Seek data, WA looks to be returning to 'normal' the fastest, with Construction, Mining, Resources & Energy and Trades & Services sectors offering increased job opportunities.
A snapshot of job ad declines April 2020 vs. March 2020.
SOURCE: Seek Employment Index, April 2020 vs March 2020.