Australia's hiring sentiments place below global average, report finds
Hiring managers in Australia are expecting hiring to ease in the first quarter of 2026, with nearly half of them expecting to keep staffing levels unchanged, according to ManpowerGroup.
Its latest Employment Outlook Survey revealed that 43% of empoyers are planning to maintain their staffing levels in the first quarter of 2026.
Another 36% are planning to increase their staff between January and March, while just 17% are anticipating staff reductions.
This brings Australia's Net Employment Outlook (NEO), or the difference between employers expecting to increase and decrease staffing, to 19%.
However, after the data was seasonally adjusted to remove the influence of predictable seasonal patterns Australia's seasonally adjusted NEO is 18%.
According to the poll, this hiring sentiment is six percentage points higher when compared to the same period in 2025.
However, it is lower by six percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2025, and belowthe current global NEO averageof 24%.
Hiring sentiments across sectors
Australia's automotive sector loggedthe strongest hiring sentimentwith a NEO of 36%. This is followed by the information sector with 29%.
The weakest hiring sentiments were logged in the Trade and Logistics (13%), as well as the Manufacturing (17%) sectors, according to the report.
Hiring sentiments in other industry sectors showed:
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (24%)
Tech and IT Services (24%)
Finance and Insurance (23%)
Public Sector, Health, and Social Services (23%)
Construction and Real Estate (21%)
Hospitality (20%)
Meanwhile, Western Australia emerged as the most competitive region in the country with a 43% NEO score. This is followed by:
South Australia (33%)
Queensland (21%)
Northern Territory (20%)
New South Wales (19%)
Victoria (14%)
Tasmania (12%)
Australian Capital Territory (3%)
Australian hiring managers across all eight regions expect to increase staffing levels in the first quarter of 2026, the report read.
