Major Australian Employers Cutting Jobs: Canva, Woodside, NAB
Canva, Woodside Energy, NAB and David Jones have all announced job cuts or insolvency steps in recent days, while Australia's unemployment rate hit 4.7 per cent in September. Economists say the market is softer but has not cracked.
Major Australian employers cutting jobs in recent days include Canva, Woodside Energy and National Australia Bank (NAB), while the unemployment rate rose to 4.7 per cent in September, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
That is the highest rate since October 2021. The ABS figures showed almost 40,000 people lost their jobs in September, and 732,000 people were unemployed nationwide.
Who is cutting, and how many
Last week, digital design company Canva said it will cut or relocate more than 1,200 jobs, or 22 per cent of its workforce. It was described as the company's first restructuring in 13 years.
A day later, gas giant Woodside Energy said it would cut at least 500 jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting process. About 80 per cent of its workforce is based in Australia.
The same day, retailer David Jones announced it had entered voluntary administration. NAB has said it plans to cut 2,500 jobs by the end of the financial year in October.
Different pressures, different lessons
Canva co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins said in a statement that "new technology is transforming what people can create". She did not directly name artificial intelligence.
David Jones's move followed years of pressure on traditional department stores from changing shopping habits, online competition and expensive property decisions. NAB blamed challenging economic conditions, technological change, competition and a need to simplify its operating model.
Robert Brooks, a professor in the department of econometrics at Monash University, said each announcement offers "different lessons". Canva is a newer company still working out its business model, he said. David Jones is a mature company in an industry hit hard by technological change, and the banks sit somewhere in between.
What economists say about the wider market
Robert Breunig, a public policy economist at the Australian National University, called the cuts "significant" for the businesses involved. In some cases, he said, they affect hundreds or even thousands of jobs and a large fraction of a workforce.
"But in terms of the number of overall jobs in the economy, it's still just a relatively small piece of the picture," Breunig said.
Brooks said the job market has absorbed major policy changes and geopolitical shocks. "What we've seen in the more recent data is this picture where the market has become slightly less resilient," he said.
He said people should watch the market "incredibly carefully", but that there is not enough information to show it has started to crack. Breunig said the job market is not doing as well as a year ago, though the Australian economy remains pretty robust.
The September jobless figure, together with the company announcements, has raised questions about the strength of the job market.
