The IT sector remains a bright spot in the Australian job market heading into 2025, boasting the most positive employment outlook of any economic sector. Recruitment firm ManpowerGroup’s Employment Outlook Survey for Q1 2025 revealed that the Australian IT sector has a net employment outlook of +27%, leading all other sectors.
IT outshines other industries
The IT hiring outlook outpaced other Australian sectors, including health care and life sciences (+21%), financials and real estate (17%), and transport, logistics, and automotive (17%). The IT sector exceeded the national net employment outlook of +11% for the quarter.
The outlook score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers expecting to reduce staff from the percentage expecting to increase hiring. A positive figure indicates more employers plan to hire than cut jobs.
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However, the IT sector’s net employment outlook has slightly declined — dropping 1% since Q4 2024 and 2% compared to last year.
A global phenomenon: IT leads in hiring outlook
Globally, IT continues to dominate hiring trends. ManpowerGroup reported that the worldwide IT net employment outlook across 42 countries stands at +37%, a 2% increase since the previous year.
Australia’s IT sector trails behind some Asia-Pacific peers, ranking 36th globally with its +11% overall employment outlook. Within APAC, Australia placed fifth, behind India (+40%), China (+29%), Singapore (25%), and Japan (15%).
Asia-Pacific’s overall regional hiring outlook recorded a stronger hiring outlook (+27%), though this represents a 3% decline compared with the same period last year.
Challenges persist despite positive outlook
Despite the promising numbers, securing an IT role in Australia may not be straightforward. A tightening labour market means more competition for roles, with reports showing a growing number of job seekers relative to the number of advertised positions.
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A survey from the online jobs website SEEK found that job applications per ad in the information and communications sector have more than doubled since