A new report on transport and logistics jobs has made a few big findings for the last few months.

  • Victoria has recorded the highest growth in jobs, at 6.2 %.
  • Queensland experienced a 6% fall, after a very positive third quarter.
  • NSW was the weakest performing state across the sector.
  • WA has recorded up to 20% growth in the last quarter.

According to the index compiled by private HR firm LabourForce, demand for temporary and contract staff was up 6.9 per cent in October, largely due to the demand for temporary staff in the lead-up to Christmas.

The outlook has improved for permanent staff too, with a 3.4 per cent increase in demand in October.

“While the surge in Christmas hiring is good news for industry workers, the healthy increase in demand for permanent staff is a bellwether for improvements in business confidence and hiring,” said spokesperson Paul Mcleay.

Transport, logistics and supply chain jobs growth continues to outperform the overall Australian market, rising 4.3 per cent to 118.75 in October 2014.

The broader ANZ Job Advertisements Series for October 2014 recorded just a 0.2 per cent monthly growth in October.

Despite a slow start to the year, transport jobs have seen a big 20.7 per cent increase in advertisement volumes in the past six months.

Victoria tops the states and territories in job growth, with a 6 per cent increase in October.

But NSW retains the largest share of transport, logistics and supply chain jobs, however the relative weakness of the NSW market has led to rebalancing over market share between states.

“The data are telling us a story of Victoria setting the pace for the rest of the country, with 22% of the new jobs across all sectors,” Mr Mcleay said.

“Factors, such as the net impact of a fall in manufacturing demand offset by growth in construction and retail, saw NSW’s share fall to 30.6. Queensland is holding its ground, with a 19.2% share, while Western Australia upped its market share to 18.5 per cent.”