The Olivier Internet Job Index, which tracks the monthly movement of online job advertisements, revealed ads in the IT&T sector fell by 6.1 percent in March over February. Last month the IT&T sector saw job ads rise 20 percent month-on-month.
Olivier blames the war in Iraq for much of the drop, noting that in the week the war started the number of jobs advertised across all sectors dropped by 3.8 percent. This bounced back a little, with the total number of job ads for March being 1.8 percent lower than in February. The number of people looking for jobs also fell at the start of the war, but bounced back quicker and stronger than the number of ads.
"At this early stage our figures suggest that the conflict has had an adverse effect on the Australian job market," said Olivier. "This week's figures coming out of the US clearly demonstrate it's a far greater issue there, with many American job losses. But if uncertainty leads to a US recession, as some economists fear, that will inevitably have a much greater knock-on effect on jobs in Australia."
The SARS disease has impacted tourism far more than IT, but it is already changing the way multinational companies operate, and could have a severe impact if the situation worsens.
There is concern that the war or a US recession could reverse a positive trend seen in the IT jobs marketplace recently. Richard Hogg, national president of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) told ZDNet Australia a number of signs were indicating an upturn in the Australian IT jobs market.
"We're confident the market will pick up toward the end of this year," said Hogg, adding that an increase in professional development (internal training) by companies was seen as a positive sign for IT employment.
