More than 90% of businesses plan to hire or keep their workforce steady, according to the latest quarterly TMP Worldwide Job Index released today.
The survey of more than 5,800 employers nationally found 8.3% have plans to downsize, with the majority (61.8%) keeping staff sizes the same and 28.5% expecting to hire.
"This is fantastic news for Australian job seekers, employees and employers alike," says Anne Hatton, president eResourcing TMP Worldwide.
"Not only are Australian companies continuing the rate of growth we saw last quarter, but these latest figures are up eight percentage points on the same time last year."
The legal industry is expecting the country's strongest growth with 46.6% of firms planning for staff increases and a mere 3.1% expected to decrease staff, giving a high net effect of 43.5%, more than double the national average of 20.2%.
Coming in second is engineering, reporting a net effect of 35.4%.
Retail is one of the most positive industries with 31.7% expecting to hire and only 5.3% planning decrease staff, giving it a net effect of 26.4%. This is a 12.5 percentage point increase on the same time last year.
For those looking for jobs, accounting and finance specialists are likely to experience the most benefits after the job type recorded a net effect of 7.7%.
For the fourth consecutive quarter, medium-sized firms with between 20-200 staff members have been reported as the most likely to hire, with a net effect of 23%.
On a state-by-state basis, Queensland employers are the most optimistic, with a net effect of 28.9%. Western Australia has improved on last quarter with a net effect of 27.9% placing it second among all Australian states.
Victoria reported the lowest expectations with its net effect of 15.5%, down almost 5% from the national average.