President-Elect Trump and the Australian Job Market

The shock and awe seen last week in American politics, has been a real show stopper, but what does all of this mean for the jobs market in Australia?

Hi there, my name is Mark Smith and I am the Managing Director of people2people, one of Australia’s fastest growing recruitment companies. At first glance, it is hard to know exactly what the change in the top job in the US will mean for Aussies looking to make their own job change. Markets wobbled in Asia when the result was announced. Surprisingly, markets were not that affected in Europe and in the US, the markets were up at the end of the following business day.

Financial markets don’t directly affect the jobs situation in Australia, they do however reflect confidence and its CONFIDENCE which drives job opportunities. With strong business and consumer confidence, jobseekers feel safe in changing jobs, creating opportunities for others to also change jobs.

Even if overall job numbers don’t increase, opportunities arise simply because of people changing jobs. The wheel keeps turning. If you don’t feel confident in the economy, you won’t risk changing jobs. The Roy Morgan NAB monthly business confidence index ticked up slightly in October. Watch this number to really know what is going to happen with jobs. I’ll include a link in this post. So it appears from the movements in the markets that confidence has yet to be affected by the remarkable and largely unforeseen election of President-Elect Trump. Time will tell if his policies affect business confidence in the US and ultimately job opportunities in Australia. 2017 will be an interesting year.

Roy Morgan Business Confidence October 2016