As the coronavirus impacts intensify, the latest data shows that job advertisements in real-estate and construction throughout Australia have plummeted.

Releasing its latest report, employment website Seek says the overall number of positions advertised on its site during March was 33.9 percent lower compared with those advertised one year ago in March 2019.

Leading the declines was the advertising, arts and media sector, where the number of positions advertised declined by 56.1 percent year-on-year.

This was followed by sales (down 50.5 percent), architecture and design (down by 49.6 percent) and sport and recreation and hospitality and tourism (down 47.7 percent each).

In property and construction , significant declines were observed across the board.

On a year-on-year basis, during the month of March:

• Architecture and design job ads fell by 48.6 percent
• Engineering job ads fell by 39.6 percent
• Trades and Services job ads fell by 36.0 percent
• Construction job ads were down by 29.7 percent
• Real-estate and property job ads were down by 26.1 percent.

Moreover, above data was taken across the whole of March and may not fully reflect the extent of slowdown.

In its report, Seek noted that overall job ads were down only 12.6 percent year-on-year over the first week of the month ending March 8,.

By the last week of the month ending March 29, advertised positions had fallen by almost two-thirds.

Kendra Banks, Managing Director of SEEK ANZ, said candidates will need to work harder to secure roles.

“We know that employers are either scaling up or winding back their recruitment needs at a rapid pace, and there are far greater applications per job ad than what we typically see across almost all sectors,” Banks said.

“Our advice for jobseekers is to keep your SEEK profile up to date and follow the application process. Employers have been inundated with applications so standing out and being competitive by tailoring your resume to the job ad, being clear about your skills and experience which directly align to the job you’re applying for throughout the recruitment process is vitally important.”