Royal Commission hits financial services employment

The Royal Commission has taken its toll on the financial services industry, with new research revealing that employment in the sector has shrunk by nine per cent when compared to last year.

The latest Sunsuper Australian Job Index, released today, revealed that while the permanent job market rose by 11.4 per cent over the period, the weakest performing industry was financial and insurance services which recorded a 9.6 per cent decline.

Commenting on the research, Sunsuper chief economist, Brian Parker said it was hardly surprising that financial services had emerged as the worst performing industry in 2018 when it came to employment demand.

“The Royal Commission and its aftermath seem to have an ongoing impact on employment demand and career opportunities in the sector,” Parker said. “The only comfort from these results is that demand started to stabilise in the last quarter of 2018 (growing 1.6 per cent) suggesting that the worst may be over and some rebuilding may occur in the year ahead.”

By comparison to financial services, healthcare and social assistance were the stand-out areas with employment demand expanding to 34.2 per cent, reflecting 12 successive monthly rises.