Online job ads in Australia are up 2% month-on-month for August, and up 11% year-on-year, pointing to a continually growing jobs market, job board SEEK says.

According to the job board, there was particularly high demand for employees from the education, farming, design & architecture, call centre & customer service and marketing & communications sectors. 

An increase in ads for internal communications specialists led the job board to point out a focus on employee retention.

The mining sector though saw a 20% decrease year-on-year in opportunities.

Engineering (-1%), banking & financial (-4%) and insurance & superannuation (-5%) also saw decreases year-on-year. 

SEEK managing director of employment Michael Ilczynski said in a statement advertising spend was up in Queensland in North-East Australia. However, it was down in South Australia and Northern Territory, and significantly down in West Australia, known for its mining industry.

Meanwhile, the Australian government has announced a Transition to Work service to help young unemployed people find jobs. 

The service is part of the government’s A$331m (£152m) Youth Employment Strategy.

Among measures the service will fund is extra support for young people who leave school early, as they are seen to be most at risk of long-term unemployment.

Selected organisations will receive the funding to provide opportunities with bonus payments for every ’12-week outcome’ above the minimum 12 weeks, and additional bonuses for every 26-week outcome. 

It is not clear whether the ‘outcomes’ will be jobs and whether the organisations will include recruiters, though a government statement says those organisations will be selected based on their track record in helping young people and strength of networks with local employers, schools and community organisations.