If hiring intentions are anything to go by, Australia is continuing its shift towards a service based economy, according to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey. While the Q219 survey reveals a net employment outlook of +10%, this is very much driven the public administration and education sector, offsetting notable declines across the transportation and utilities, mining and construction, and manufacturing.

The global survey collects data from more than 59,000 employers in 44 countries, including more than 1500 in Australia.

While nationally the public administration and education sector shows a net gain of +7 points for 2Q19 compared to the same period last year, this is offset by -7 point decline in the transportation and utilities sector over the same period. Other losers include mining and construction (-3), wholesale and retail Trade (-3), and manufacturing (-1) sectors.

For once, there are significant differences across the states and territories, with NSW down 6 points year-on-year compared with Queensland (+3) and Victoria (+1), and the smaller states and territories recorded even larger gains.

Elsewhere within the Asia-Pacific region, the strongest outlooks are reported in Japan (+27%), Taiwan (+18%) and India (+13%).