Jobs Plentiful, But Workers Aren’t Seeing The Money

Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence, September quarter 2022

The Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index (ECI) rose by 6.7 points to 115.2 in the September quarter. This is the highest level for the index since June 2019.

“Perceptions about job opportunities remain the strongest aspect of the survey,” said Michael Gordon, Acting Chief Economist for Westpac. “This likely reflects the high degree of churn among existing roles, even as outright growth in employment has stalled.”

“More households reported a lift in earnings over the last year,” said Mr Gordon. “However, this measure remains well below pre-Covid levels. Expected growth in earnings has also remained subdued.”

“Official labour market data shows a strong lift in wage and salary growth in the last year,” noted Mr Gordon. “However, that’s happened at the same time that the cost of living has soared. The survey results may reflect a feeling among households that they’ve been running to stand still.”

“Confidence amongst employees working in the public sector has returned to the same level seen in March 2022, up 14.2 points this quarter to 124.4. In contrast, private sector employees have seen a much smaller rise in confidence (106.4 ECI, an increase of 3.8 points from June 2022),” observed Imogen Rendall, Market Research Director of McDermott Miller Limited.

“Private sector employees are much more concerned about their future job opportunities as well as their personal job security over the coming year, while public sector employees are buoyant with a positive view of both their current employment conditions and their expectations for the future,” commented Ms Rendall.

A full description of the background and specifications of the survey are attached. The survey was conducted over 1-12 September 2022, with a sample size of 1,559. An index number over 100 indicates that optimists outnumber pessimists. The margin of error of the survey is 2.5%.

Acknowledgement

The Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index is owned by McDermott Miller Limited. Westpac McDermott Miller should be acknowledged as the source when citing the Employment Confidence Survey and Index. Graphs supplied may be reproduced by the news media provided the Westpac McDermott Miller logo remains inset.

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