Lower consumer spending and skyrocketing cost of living rises in the Territory may be impacting business spending, with companies posting fewer job ads last month, new hiring data suggests.

In October this year, the Territory posted a 4.9 per cent decline in new job ads, a reversal from the previous month’s 1.7 per cent rise in job ads, SEEK Australia employment trends data shows.

It marks the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that monthly job ads decreased.

While there were fewer jobs being posted, applications per job ad rose, indicating the volume of people looking for work is higher than the number of jobs available.

Nationally, all industries suffered a decline in job ad offers year over year, except for the healthcare and medical, and information and communication technology sectors which posted a slight increase of 1.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively for October.

Government spending on disability, health and aged care services enables the sectors to see healthy employment growth.

For the first time in a year, October job advertisements in the country’s major cities recorded a decline with the Australian Capital Territory job ads slowing down by 7.1 per cent; New South Wales, declining by 3.9 per cent; Victoria, down 4.7 per cent; and South Australia, waning by 1.9 per cent.

Year-on-year, however, some sectors continued to post increases in job posts led by the education and training sector with an increase of 16.6 per cent; accounting with 12.4 per cent; community services and development at 9.7 per cent; and office support with an increase in job ads of 9.7 per cent.

SEEK ANZ managing director Kendra Banks said job ad volumes started decreasing in by the middle of this year, but remained high versus pre-pandemic levels.

“Job ads remain extremely high compared to pre-pandemic levels, so it is too early to speculate whether this month’s drop represents the beginning of a slowdown in the Great Job Boom,” she said.

“June saw the first drop in job ads for most states and territories this year and it was also the first time since the pandemic began that all states have recorded a simultaneous decline.”

She said that with skills shortages, international economic uncertainty, and increasing operational costs, businesses in all industries are under pressure.