Business and employment remain resilient

Recent economic and tragic events have not had a major impact on business and employment in Australia and a forecast of steady growth is expected in the next two years, according to research released by recruitment firm Hamilton James & Bruce.

The company surveyed more than 600 businesses to reveal that almost half (49%) the employers believe the effects of recent world tragedies in Bali and the USA are short-lived and more likely to affect business with links to these areas eg, international tourism and US or Asian-based companies.

More concerning to employers is the drought and local corporate collapses as they have a greater impact on business in Australia.

However, 40% of companies said there is a negative effect on business, because the tragedies affect people's mindset, workplace productivity, consumer and investor confidence, recruitment, salary increases and promotions.

Fortunately, however, 55% of businesses said they foresee an economic upturn in the next two years demonstrating Australians' confidence in the local economy and resilience to external events. Most confident of this upturn are the sales, marketing and public relations (67%), technology (66%), legal (61%) and banking finance sectors (61%).

In the next 12 months, the majority (62%) of companies believe that salaries are expected to increase. Confident of an increase are legal 71%, HR 71%, business support 68%, accounting 65% and operations and engineering 60% professions.