Grant Montgomery, Managing Director of searh firm E.L Consult, says the “ zero result this month is actually more positive than it has been for months, but it is unlikely that it signals that job demand reached the bottom”.

“The trend is and has been down over the last few months down and unlikely to recover substantially for some time.

“Just two atypical performances by engineering and Technology jobs, have managed to keep overall demand at zero instead of negative.” Montgomery said.

“The research results are patchy across the states and territories, with four of them rising slightly and four of them falling.

“The high scores in Engineering and Information Technology demand are excellent and probably the best two sectors to have a positive performance as they are both lead indicators for investment.

“What is more, the increases in these two sectors have not come as a result of “pump priming” by the public sector employing more people which often occurs when a recession is looming.”

Montgomery comments that engineering, is closely related to capital investment and apart from infrastructure development, it is safe to assume that there is some renewed interest in property development with the increasing immigration putting heavy demand on the housing sector.

“Increased demand for engineers may also be attributed to the push for renewables and the associated rewiring of the country.,” notes Montgomery.

“Figures show that there is very little capital investment going into industrial development however, as this sector, which desperately needs to invest to improve productivity, is continuing to die.

“Information Technology is also a good sector to rise, and indicates that some planning is underway for a potential boom created by Artificial Intelligence, particularly machine learning, as well as companies seeking to improve the efficiency of their service systems and back office.

“The improvements in these can have a multiplier effect on the rest of the economy over time – Engineering in the wider building industry and Information Technology because of the cost savings that can eventuate.

“The World Economic Forum predicts that while AI may replace around 85 million jobs by 2025, it will also create approximately 97 million new jobs,” Montgomery concluded.

EL Conasult reports that in March, among the states the results were split 50/50, and New South Wales was the major mover among the states, rising 5 per cent, other gains were in the Northern Territory, Queensland and the ACT - and all other states and territories were lower.

“Demand was higher in Engineering and Information Technology, with Engineering demand better across both online and offline job advertisements. Losses across the other sectors were relatively minor, with the Financial index recording the worst result,” EL Consult notes.