Hairdresser Lisa Seeger is feeling the impact of a tough jobs market.<\/p>\n
“I’m a sole income, single parent, paying a mortgage on my own,” Ms Seeger said.<\/p>\n
“If I don’t get a [better-paying] job, I’m going to have to start putting the wheels in motion of trying to get my house ready to sell.”<\/p>\n
Falling job mobility is making it harder for many Australians to secure better-paying positions and advance their careers.<\/p>\n
There are also concerns the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) could result in even bigger changes to the Australian workforce.<\/p>\n
After 16 years of running her own salon, Ms Seeger wants a job that is less physically demanding and higher paying.<\/p>\n
She is looking at roles in sales, customer service and local government.<\/p>\n
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Lisa Seeger worries that employers’ use of AI is limiting her chances to change careers. (ABC News: Peter Drought)<\/p>\n
But in the six months of trying to find work, she has faced a series of rejections.<\/p>\n
“I thought I had a lot to offer, I thought I’d have a lot of transferable skills from running my own business,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Everyone keeps telling me, ‘Oh you’ll smash it, you’ll get a job’, but it’s been really disheartening and disappointing.”<\/p>\n
Ms Seeger said she believed AI was playing a role in her struggle to find work, with employers using it to weed out applicants without relevant experience.<\/p>\n
“We need to remember that sometimes how someone presents on paper isn’t actually who they are in person.”<\/p>\n
Do you know more? Contact Fiona Blackwood at blackwood.fiona@abc.net.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite her struggle in an uncertain job market, Ms Seeger is determined to show her daughter that a career change is possible.<\/p>\n “I’m going to continue to be resilient and try and find a better job that pays better money, [so] that I can provide for her and keep a roof over our heads for the future.”<\/p>\n The Grattan Institute’s Trent Wiltshire said Australia should start preparing for disruption now, saying “the dawn of AI is certainly upon us, it’s in all workplaces”.<\/p>\n There are many uncertainties around how artificial intelligence will affect the workforce. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n How has the jobs market changed since the pandemic?<\/p>\n While still relatively low, the unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent in October has been on an upward trajectory for the past three years.<\/a> It was 3.4 per cent in October 2022.<\/p>\n The number of jobs being advertised over the past year has dropped.<\/p>\n There were 5,000 fewer job vacancies, a drop of 1.5 per cent, over the year to August 2025,<\/a> according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence is being used by employers and those looking for work. (Unsplash<\/a>: Israel Andrade<\/a>)<\/p>\n After the pandemic, there was a big demand for labour.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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