What Do The Most Recent Job Vacancies Figures Mean For Our Property Markets?

There's plenty of jobs available right now in Australia

David Scutt from Business Insider analysed the latest Australia’s Department of Jobs and Small Business’ Internet Vacancy Index

• Australia created over 400,000 jobs in 2017, the largest over a calendar year on record
• Job vacancies have risen to the highest level in over five years, suggesting that demand for workers is increasing
• Openings have increased in most regions and professions over the past year

Job vacancies continue to lift across Australia

According to the Australia’s Department of Jobs and Small Business’ Internet Vacancy Index (IVI), skilled job vacancies rose by 0.6% to 183,700 in February.

Openings have now risen in each of the past 16 months — the longest stretch of consecutive gains since March 2011 — leaving total vacancies up 10.5% on a year earlier.

By number, vacancies now sit at the highest level in over five years, something that usually translates to lower unemployment levels in Australia.

By location, and mirroring the strength seen in openings by occupation, vacancies also increased in all states and territories during the year, led by double-digit gains in Western Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory, ACT and Victoria.

Exactly what Kevin Young in our research team have been talking about for a while now, with great prospects for growth in the regions outside New South Wales and Victoria!

Number Of Centenarians In Australia Tops 4,000 For The First Time

I put out a media release this week, talking about how the number of Australians living to at least 100 years of age has surged past 4,000 for the very first time in the history of Australia.

The latest national population figures show that during 2017 the number of centenarians in Australia rose to 4,078 compared to 3,526 during the previous year.

Growing life expectancy is a global trend with the number of centenarians expected to surge from around 500,000 globally in 2015 to 3.7 million by 2050.

These figures underline the reality that superannuation savings are simply not enough to see through most people in retirement – which for some people may now be more than 30 years.