As economic headwinds continue to impact the industry, ABS data has shown that advertising and marketing professionals have borne a significant part of the brunt of the country’s redundancies in 2023.
The Australian Financial Review has broken down the number of redundancies in Australia in each quarter between November 2022 and August 2023, classified by industries, revealing advertising and marketing professionals among the top sectors hit.
An average of 89,300 people were made redundant in every recorded quarter.
Construction topped the average quarterly redundancies rate with 11,900, followed by Professional, scientific and technical services – which includes advertising and marketing professionals, accountants, software programmers, and solicitors – with a quarterly average of 10,100.
The figures reflect the widespread redundancies that have occurred this year across the media and advertising sector, with roles affected at CHEP, DDB, Dentsu and M&C Saatchi, among others, as well as Private Media and ARN’s CADA.
However, media agency leaders remain upbeat about the state of the industry.
MFA CEO Sophie Madden told Mediaweek, “Initial data from the MFA Industry Census, to be released in January 2024, indicates that the media agency population has, in fact, increased year-on-year, which is also reflected in a reduction in the vacancy rate – the number of open roles at media agencies.
“Once the Census is completed, we’ll be able to identify the most in-demand roles, but for now we can say that the media agency industry continues to experience job growth.”
IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan noted that “Professional services is a broad category and can include many industries that may be making redundancies,” and told Mediaweek that “in the independent media agency sector, our experience is that the reverse is true.”
“Our Indie Census study among our 160+ member base found that more than 60% grew in 2023, with the majority predicting growth of up to 25%. Although our members predicted a softer second half, which has proven correct, indie agencies are renowned for their agility and adapting to changing client needs.
“In addition, a group of our members has racked up more than 100 new business wins in the second half of this year, and with new business comes new hires to manage and fuel further growth. Overall our sector is robust and optimistic about the year ahead and the IMAA has several exciting initiatives planned.”
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Top Image: Sophie Madden and Sam Buchanan