The survey of more than 3500 employers nationally found that net hiring intentions fell by 2 percentage points since last quarter to 15.1%.

The dip was driven largely by weakness in resources and mining, which fell to a net figure of -20.5%, 9.4 percentage points lower than last quarter.

However, sentiment is strong in professional services, where net hiring intentions have climbed to 32.6% as well as industries such as IT (28.5%) and financial services (19.9%).

Hudson Australia executive general manager Dean Davidson said: “The Hudson Report continues to point to changing dynamics in the hiring intentions of employers, with positive conditions in financial professional services counterbalancing weaker conditions across sectors such as resources and mining.”

The Hudson Report found that one in four employers were planning to increase hiring in the quarter ahead and only 1 in 10 plan to reduce permanent staff numbers. Despite the slight softening, the net effect of 15.1% for Q3 2015 is almost 6 percentage points higher than the same time last year.