Australian job market holds slim pickings for returning expats

An Australian research group has declared that expats returning home expecting to be welcomed with open arms by local employers are in for a rude awakening.

In spite of the relatively low Australian unemployment rate, which at 5.8 percent is well below the 8.6 percent average for OECD countries, the job market remains tough to crack according to the new report by IBISWorld.

The warning comes at a time when recent figures indicated an increase of some 25 percent in Australians leaving the UK last year, up to almost 20,000. These figures were released by the British Office for National Statistics and also revealed that British-bound Aussies also fell by around 4,000 to just 14,000 overall.

The finance sector remains the greatest concern, with around 10,000 returning banking, finance and insurance experts. Traditionally these fields are the main draw cards for Australians working abroad and have suffered since the start of the financial crisis last year. Returnees have arrived home to find the local finance market employment rate has fallen by 4.4 percent in the year to July 2009. This means that currently there are only around 384,000 jobs in the finance sector in Australia, with the figure expected to fall by an additional 0.8 percent over the next 6 months.

Sydney and Melbourne have joined London and New York as being particularly hard hit by the credit crunch. While many highly qualified employees are returning to Australia they face stiff competition with employers being able to choose from an oversupply of professional talent.

According to historical data most Australian expats return home around Christmas time.