Job ads down for the first time in four years

For the first time since 2004, there are signs that demand for employees in the financial services industry is cooling, according to eJobs Financial Planning managing director Trevor Punnett.

Punnett’s analysis of advertised industry roles over Sydney, regional NSW and the ACT has shown that for the first time, job advertisements fell in April compared to the same period a year ago.

“Right now NSW accounts for 45.2 per cent of all financial planner jobs,” Punnett told Money Management.

“It tends to be that Sydney... is replicated in other states,” he said.

Across Australia, all regions have seen a slight decrease in jobs compared to last year, with Western Australia recording the highest fall, Punnett said.

While the falls were only slight, down approximately 1.6 per cent in the NSW region and 4.6 per cent nationally, they might be representative of a broader trend.

This trend is probably a result of tightening economic conditions and market volatility, Punnett said.

“Over the past three or four years demand for jobs has been strong... I think the tide is going to be turning,” he said.

However, he was unsure how long the slowdown would last.

Punnett pointed to last week’s reports in Money Management that AMP had taken a major reduction in its cash flows for the March quarter.

If results similar to AMP’s are replicated in other dealer groups, then falling cash flow will impact jobs, said Punnett.

Administrative staff and paraplanners on the upper end of the pay scale will start to become more expensive to businesses struggling to find new clients, he said.

However, the cooling off in the job market has not led to a fall in salaries or bonuses.

Punnett said he didn’t want to be the source of ‘doom and gloom’, adding that planners giving holistic and fee-for-service advice would be best protected from any falls in bonuses.