Executive Summary Summary  Both business confidence and expectations of growth have risen strongly and are well above their historic lows four rounds ago. Growth is at an historic high while confidence is approaching that level. Business confidence rose 6 points to 72.5 while members expect next quarter’s business volumes to rise to 8.5% compared with last round’s level of 5.7%.  The number of clients interacted with in the last 3 months has risen by 18%.  The labour market changes have slowed down but it is slightly easier to find applicants for positions oOverall little has changed in the labour market except that there has been a decline in attitudes and capabilities  Despite increasing business confidence, staff levels continue drop but at a much reduced rate from last round. While both turnover and growth have pulled back from their historically high and low levels respectively. oStaff turnover is highest in NSW and Victoria  There has been a increase of around 42% in full-time placements and a drop of 50% in on-hired employment & contractors  As a proportion of total placements, permanent placements has grown by 4% to 7% while on-hired and contractor placements has dropped 5% to 92%  At the same time, the proportion of revenue from on-hired employment has decreased by 7% to 50% while that of recruitment services has risen 5% to 38% Note: If locational differences are not mentioned, the differences are insufficient for comment

Executive Summary Summary – issues of most concern  Almost all concerns have dropped. Most significantly and consistently with overall confidence, concerns about the state of the economy have dropped 13% to 73%. Similarly, lack of hiring intentions of clients has dropped 18% to 68% and fears about maintaining profitability has dropped by 7% while fears about price undercutting is stable. oVIC is less concerned about client hiring intentions oNSW is less worried about price undercutting, retaining recruitment staff and industrial relations oQLD is less worried about financing growth and more worried about industrial relations, employment legislation, legal issues about on-hired staff and unfair dismissal oSA is more concerned about retaining recruitment staff, profitability levels, industrial relations, employment legislation and immigration issues and less worried about financing growth and restructuring industries oWA is less concerned about financing growth and more concerned with finding and retaining recruitment staff and immigration issues oNZ is less concerned about finding suitable candidates and more concerned about the economy, hiring intentions of staff and financing growth. Note: If locational differences are not mentioned, the differences are insufficient for comment

Executive Summary - Occupations  While the overall job shortage has increased only slightly there has been a big jump in demand in the top jobs. Non-building professionals have jumped 10% to 42% and nurses and other health occupations have risen in demand by about 4% as have building professionals and IT occupations.  The top 12 occupation shortages are: oNon-building professional engineers oHealth professionals oNurses oNon-building engineering associates and technicians oBuilding professionals oMedical technicians oBuilding associates and technicians oNon-building electrical/electronic trades oBusiness professionals oElectrical trades (building) oIT and telecommunications professionals oCarpenters and joiners

Excutive summary cont’d  The majority of respondents (96%) source candidates through mainstream job boards followed by networking events (76%) and in-house & niche job boards (69%) oSA is most likely to use niche job boards, refer a friend incentives and trade magazines oNSW is less likely to use refer a friend incentives oNZ is more likely to use refer a friend incentives oWA is more likely to use virtual communication channels such as twitter

Excutive summary cont’d  The temporary workforce: oSlightly less than half are long term (more than three months) oJust under two thirds are female with the greatest proportion in the 31 to 45 age range oBoth the education levels and skills levels are high with just over half having completed higher education and the same proportion being rated as highly skilled oThe greatest number come from other agencies and open-ended employment while they go to ‘other’ and open-ended employment.

Process  Web survey o business heads in both NZ and Australia o177 responses oData collection began early December 2009 and completed 5 February 2010

Demographics of sample The proportion of $100m+ companies decreased by 1% from last round to 5%.

Demographics of sample The proportion of sole traders in the sample has increased to 16% from 9% Location differences: There are a higher proportion of sole traders in NZ

Demographics of sample The total annual revenue of respondent companies has decreased from $8.6 billion to $7.6 billion. Total Annual revenue $m Total Australia=$7.1b Approx 93% of revenue

Both business confidence and expectations of growth have risen strongly and are well above their historic lows four rounds ago. Growth is at an historic high while confidence is approaching that level. Business confidence rose 6 points to 72.5 while members expect next quarter’s business volumes to rise to 8.5% compared with last round’s level of 5.7%. Scale: 0=strongly disagree 50=neutral 100=strongly agree Differences None Location differences: There are no substantial location differences

The number of clients interacted with in the last 3 months has risen by 18%. January 2010 July 2009

The labour market changes have slowed down but it is slightly easier to find applicants for positions. Scale: 0=strongly disagree 50=neutral 100=strongly agree Location differences NZ is more likely to agree that there at least as many applicants for positions as needed

Overall little has changed in the labour market except that there has been a decline in attitudes and capabilities +7% -7% +6%

Despite increasing business confidence, staff levels continue drop but at a much reduced rate from last round. While both turnover and growth have pulled back from their historically high and low levels respectively. Location differences Staff turnover is highest in NSW and Victoria

Staff placed and on-hired workers There has been a increase of around 42% in full-time placements and a drop of 50% in on-hired employment & contractors. January 2010 Note: variability may arise because of a few large numbers – this is a problem of small data sets October 2009

As a proportion of total placements, permanent placements has grown by 4% to 7% while on-hired and contractor placements has dropped 5% to 92%

At the same time, the proportion of revenue from on-hired employment has decreased by 7% to 50% while that of recruitment services has risen 5% to 38%. Location differences Revenue as a percentage of the total from On-hired employees and contractors is highest in WA Recruitment services is lowest in SA

The proportion of companies with neither contractors nor on-hire employees has dropped by 1% to 14%. The number of companies with more than 20,000 has also dropped 1% to 3%.

The majority of respondents (92%) source candidates through mainstream job boards followed by networking events (76%) and in-house & niche job boards (70%) Location differences SA is most likely to use niche job boards, refer a friend incentives and trade magazines NSW is less likely to use refer a friend incentives NZ is more likely to use refer a friend incentives WA is more likely to use virtual communication channels such as twitter

Concerns for the present and near future (all respondents) Almost all concerns have dropped. Most significantly and consistently with overall confidence, concerns about the state of the economy have dropped 13% to 73%. Similarly, lack of hiring intentions of clients has dropped 18% to 68% and fears about maintaining profitability has dropped by 7% while fears about price undercutting is stable.

Concerns for the present and near future (National issues) In Australia, concerns about legal issues about on-hired staff, employment legislation have risen by 8% to be top concerns. In NZ concerns remain almost the same.

Location differences have reduced this round Note: <50=less than neutral 50=neutral >50 = greater than neutral Compared to average VIC is less concerned about client hiring intentions NSW is less worried about price undercutting, retaining recruitment staff and industrial relations QLD is less worried about financing growth and more worried about industrial relations, employment legislation, legal issues about on-hired staff and unfair dismissal SA is more concerned about retaining recruitment staff, profitability levels, industrial relations, employment legislation and immigration issues and less worried about financing growth and restructuring industries WA is less concerned about financing growth and more concerned with finding and retaining recruitment staff and immigration issues NZ is less concerned about finding suitable candidates and more concerned about the economy, hiring intentions of staff and financing growth.

Occupational shortages

Occupational shortages – top 20 While the overall job shortage has increased only slightly there has been a big jump in demand in the top jobs. Non-building professionals have jumped 10% to 42% and nurses and other health occupations have risen in demand by about 4% as have building professionals and IT occupations. Total shortage

Occupational shortages – bottom 20 Total shortage

Top 10 skill shortages by location  NSW 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Nurses 3.Health professionals 4.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 5.Building professionals 6.Building associates and technicians 7.Electrical trades (building) 8.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 9.IT and telecommunications professionals 10.Medical technicians  VIC 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Health professionals 3.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 4.Nurses 5.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 6.Building professionals 7.IT and telecommunications professionals 8.Building associates and technicians 9.Medical technicians 10.Electrical trades (building)

Top 10 skill shortages by location  Queensland 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Nurses 3.Health professionals 4.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 5.Building professionals 6.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 7.Electrical trades (building) 8.Medical technicians 9.Building associates and technicians 10.IT and telecommunications professionals  South Australia 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 3.Nurses 4.Health professionals 5.IT and telecommunications professionals 6.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 7.Electrical trades (building) 8.Building professionals 9.Medical technicians 10.IT and telecommunications technicians

Top 10 skill shortages by location  Western Australia 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 3.Health professionals 4.Nurses 5.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 6.Electrical trades (building) 7.Building professionals 8.Building associates and technicians 9.IT and telecommunications professionals 10.Medical technicians  New Zealand 1.Non-building professional engineers 2.Non-building engineering associates and technicians 3.Nurses 4.Health professionals 5.IT and telecommunications professionals 6.Non-building electrical/electronic trades 7.Building professionals 8.IT and telecommunications technicians 9.Medical technicians 10.Electrical trades (building)

Special section The temporary workforce

Slightly less than half are long term (more than three months) % of sample

Just under two thirds are female with the greatest proportion in the 31 to 45 age range. % of sample

Both the education levels and skills levels are high with just over half having completed higher education and the same proportion being rated as highly skilled. % of sample

Employment status before arriving at and after leaving the organisation. The greatest number come from other agencies and open-ended employment while they go to ‘other’ and open-ended employment.