Feb-2024 ('000) | Quarterly change (%) | Yearly change (%) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Trend | Private sector | 324.8 | -4.2 | -17.7 |
Public sector | 40.4 | -4.6 | -14.3 | |
Private and public sectors | 365.3 | -4.3 | -17.4 | |
Seasonally Adjusted | Private sector | 323.7 | -6.1 | -18.1 |
Public sector | 40.1 | -6.1 | -14.6 | |
Private and public sectors | 363.8 | -6.1 | -17.7 | |
Original | Private sector | 323.8 | -5.7 | -18.4 |
Public sector | 39.0 | -9.9 | -14.7 | |
Private and public sectors | 362.7 | -6.1 | -18.0 |
Job Vacancies, Australia
Results of the quarterly Job Vacancies Survey containing estimates of job vacancies classified by industry, sector and state/territory.
Key statistics
Seasonally adjusted estimates for February 2024:
- Total job vacancies were 363,800, a decrease of 6.1% from November 2023.
- Private sector vacancies were 323,700, a decrease of 6.1% from November 2023.
- Public sector vacancies were 40,100, a decrease of 6.1% from November 2023.
Survey impacts and changes
New approach for estimating the contribution of micro-employers
From the November quarter 2023 release, the ABS has implemented a modelled approach to account for the contribution of employers with less than five employees.
The model-based approach will reduce the quarterly response burden on these businesses, who are less likely to have job vacancies. Analysis of their contribution over time has also shown that their contribution to estimates can be effectively modelled.
In implementing this new approach, the ABS plans to collect information from a full sample of micro-employers every eighth quarter, to review the performance of the model. However, in the event of a major shock to the labour market (for example, a pandemic), a full sample would be run more frequently.
More detail is available in Methodological News, December Quarter 2023 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).
Other measures of labour demand
In addition to Job Vacancies, there are a number of non-ABS indicators that measure labour demand using alternative concepts, sources and methods. These are also widely used as leading indicators of employment. Prominent examples include the ANZ-Indeed Australian Job Ads Index, the SEEK Employment Report, and Jobs and Skills Australia's Internet Vacancy Index.
Measures of job vacancies and job advertisements will differ for a number of reasons:
- Job vacancies includes jobs for which job advertisements are undertaken but also includes jobs where other recruitment approaches are exclusively used, such as word of mouth or social media. For example, jobs in the Accommodation and food services industry are more likely to be advertised on social media or in shop front signs. These jobs were one of the key drivers of the boom in job vacancies during the pandemic.
- Job vacancies is a count of every position advertised within a single notice, while some job advertisements may be used to fill multiple positions.
- Most job advertisement series collect the number of jobs advertised over a period of time, whereas job vacancies are measured on one particular day. The difference between these two measures could be exacerbated during a time of severe labour shortages. That is, if a job is vacant longer, there is more chance it will be vacant on the reference date, yet it would still only count for one job ad.
Intention to retire the additional estimates produced during the COVID-19 period
During the COVID-19 period, the ABS produced some additional insights from the Job Vacancies Survey to complement its longstanding estimates of job vacancies. This included estimates of the proportion of businesses reporting vacancies and reasons for vacancies.
With the release of February 2024 data, which will be four years of publishing this additional data, the ABS has reviewed the ongoing value of these series. Given they provide only limited additional insights into labour demand, beyond the range of standard Job Vacancies tables, the ABS intends to cease publishing these additional series after this release.
However, if you have any feedback on the recent usefulness of these additional estimates or have any concerns with them being retired, please contact us at labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.
Job vacancies over time
Job vacancies decreased by 6.1% (23,600 vacancies) in the three months to February 2024 (seasonally adjusted). Despite this being the seventh consecutive quarterly decrease, the level of job vacancies in February 2024 remained elevated. Job vacancies were 59.8% higher than they were in February 2020, prior to the start of the pandemic. The ongoing high level of vacancies reflected the continuing labour shortages in many industries.
The Job Vacancies Survey was suspended between August 2008 to August 2009 (inclusive).
Businesses reporting vacancies
The number of businesses reporting at least one vacancy shows the extent of the acute reduction in labour demand in May 2020, as well as the subsequent change since then. In February 2020, just prior to the main effects of COVID-19, the proportion of businesses reporting at least one vacancy was 11.0%. In May 2020, a much lower proportion of businesses reported at least one vacancy (6.5%). By November 2022, this had increased to 27.7%. In line with the decrease in the number of vacancies over recent quarters, the proportion of businesses reporting at least one vacancy also decreased to 18.3% in February 2024.
With the new approach for estimating the number of vacancies for micro-employers, the contribution to the proportion of businesses reporting vacancies for these employers will also be modelled from November 2023.
Feb-22 | May-22 | Aug-22 | Nov-22 | Feb-23 | May-23 | Aug-23 | Nov-23 | Feb-24 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New South Wales | 24.2 | 26.2 | 28.9 | 28.0 | 27.4 | 26.5 | 20.1 | 18.8 | 18.5 |
Victoria | 22.9 | 27.3 | 27.1 | 29.2 | 25.4 | 24.7 | 26.3 | 20.6 | 19.5 |
Queensland | 26.0 | 22.8 | 26.7 | 28.3 | 22.6 | 25.4 | 23.3 | 24.1 | 17.1 |
South Australia | 17.6 | 17.3 | 19.7 | 18.4 | 16.0 | 19.4 | 17.2 | 15.3 | 19.4 |
Western Australia | 22.4 | 28.3 | 25.2 | 29.4 | 21.6 | 23.1 | 16.3 | 17.1 | 16.1 |
Tasmania | 19.2 | 19.1 | 14.0 | 22.0 | 15.6 | 14.5 | 16.9 | 12.7 | 17.3 |
Northern Territory | 27.8 | 31.6 | 36.5 | 35.6 | 26.4 | 23.4 | 25.8 | 20.9 | 21.4 |
Australian Capital Territory | 16.6 | 13.7 | 15.5 | 13.7 | 16.0 | 17.1 | 15.0 | 12.8 | 12.3 |
Australia | 23.5 | 25.2 | 26.7 | 27.7 | 24.3 | 24.7 | 21.7 | 19.7 | 18.3 |
Feb-22 | May-22 | Aug-22 | Nov-22 | Feb-23 | May-23 | Aug-23 | Nov-23 | Feb-24 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mining | 27.8 | 24.8 | 19.3 | 27.1 | 26.0 | 26.4 | 25.3 | 20.9 | 23.8 |
Manufacturing | 29.6 | 22.3 | 25.9 | 23.8 | 26.8 | 16.8 | 29.5 | 18.2 | 19.0 |
Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 39.2 | 34.5 | 13.1 | 31.0 | 25.2 | 36.7 | 24.2 | 26.0 | 15.2 |
Construction | 24.3 | 30.3 | 28.5 | 28.5 | 24.2 | 23.6 | 22.2 | 26.7 | 25.0 |
Wholesale trade | 29.5 | 16.8 | 26.1 | 19.9 | 23.4 | 22.9 | 23.1 | 21.1 | 23.8 |
Retail trade | 16.6 | 17.7 | 23.8 | 31.5 | 23.0 | 21.7 | 28.1 | 17.1 | 16.3 |
Accommodation and food services | 32.4 | 34.0 | 42.5 | 45.3 | 41.7 | 35.5 | 31.8 | 25.6 | 20.3 |
Transport, postal and warehousing | 22.4 | 22.6 | 25.8 | 21.5 | 16.6 | 21.3 | 13.2 | 20.9 | 10.3 |
Information media and telecommunications | 19.8 | 26.7 | 20.4 | 29.0 | 21.4 | 21.3 | 15.8 | 16.4 | 31.1 |
Financial and insurance services | 14.8 | 20.0 | 8.2 | 21.7 | 7.4 | 11.8 | 7.5 | 9.4 | 11.4 |
Rental, hiring and real estate services | 20.1 | 25.2 | 27.3 | 26.1 | 13.9 | 13.0 | 15.7 | 8.7 | 18.8 |
Professional, scientific and technical services | 17.6 | 18.0 | 19.4 | 24.8 | 19.6 | 22.2 | 16.8 | 16.1 | 9.3 |
Administrative and support services | 36.2 | 38.3 | 32.8 | 36.8 | 26.7 | 34.0 | 27.5 | 28.6 | 32.4 |
Public administration and safety | 33.5 | 37.9 | 37.4 | 35.0 | 43.3 | 32.0 | 34.8 | 29.6 | 25.1 |
Education and training | 9.9 | 14.6 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 28.9 | 28.7 | 26.8 | 17.8 | 18.1 |
Health care and social assistance | 18.9 | 26.7 | 33.4 | 17.5 | 30.8 | 29.5 | 21.2 | 20.3 | 22.6 |
Arts and recreation services | 8.3 | 10.2 | 4.7 | 9.3 | 18.6 | 22.7 | 17.8 | 10.8 | 16.1 |
Other services | 32.7 | 32.7 | 34.4 | 36.7 | 25.3 | 31.1 | 18.6 | 23.2 | 18.3 |
All industries | 23.5 | 25.2 | 26.7 | 27.7 | 24.3 | 24.7 | 21.7 | 19.7 | 18.3 |
Feb-22 | May-22 | Aug-22 | Nov-22 | Feb-23 | May-23 | Aug-23 | Nov-23 | Feb-24 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Replacement/resignations | 79.7 | 80.4 | 78.2 | 77.1 | 79.6 | 77.6 | 77.4 | 77.9 | 82.8 |
Increased workload | 47.8 | 47.0 | 45.4 | 44.0 | 44.0 | 39.7 | 38.6 | 38.9 | 39.2 |
Expansion of business | 25.9 | 27.8 | 27.8 | 25.6 | 26.7 | 26.4 | 24.8 | 26.3 | 26.2 |
Restructure | 13.9 | 14.4 | 13.2 | 12.8 | 13.7 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 14.3 | 15.1 |
Relocation | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
Seasonal | 12.0 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 18.1 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 13.4 | 18.4 | 12.7 |
Special event | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.3 |
Takeover | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
Other | 12.9 | 8.6 | 7.1 | 6.4 | 9.8 | 8.2 | 9.2 | 10.4 | 6.5 |
Businesses may have multiple reasons for reporting job vacancies
Proportions are of businesses that reported at least one vacancy
States and territories
NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | Australia | Australia (Seasonally adjusted) | Australia (Trend) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Change from previous quarter | |||||||||||
Nov-22 | -11.8 | -7.0 | -0.1 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 12.8 | -1.7 | 2.0 | -5.2 | -1.5 | 0.1 |
Feb-23 | 9.0 | -5.9 | -0.8 | -9.4 | -14.8 | 8.4 | -8.4 | -5.8 | -1.8 | -2.4 | -2.9 |
May-23 | -11.7 | -5.1 | -9.3 | 8.7 | 4.0 | -7.6 | -8.3 | -1.1 | -6.2 | -3.6 | -4.7 |
Aug-23 | -4.5 | -5.2 | 3.8 | -1.0 | -4.3 | -4.7 | -4.8 | -8.4 | -3.0 | -8.4 | -5.0 |
Nov-23 | -2.3 | -4.7 | -2.2 | -2.8 | -5.8 | -3.6 | -13.9 | -17.2 | -3.9 | -0.8 | -4.7 |
Feb-24 | -10.0 | -3.6 | -11.1 | 8.0 | -3.3 | 4.7 | -7.4 | 1.0 | -6.1 | -6.1 | -4.3 |
Change from corresponding quarter of previous year | |||||||||||
Feb-22 | 38.3 | 55.1 | 43.6 | 26.5 | 66.3 | 29.5 | 76.4 | 40.4 | 46.7 | 47.2 | 49.2 |
Feb-23 | 11.5 | 8.8 | 10.5 | -6.2 | -20.6 | 4.8 | -18.9 | 0.3 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
Feb-24 | -25.8 | -17.4 | -18.2 | 13.0 | -9.3 | -11.0 | -30.4 | -24.2 | -18.0 | -17.7 | -17.4 |
Data refers to original series unless otherwise stated
Private sector
NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | Australia | Australia (Seasonally adjusted) | Australia (Trend) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Change from previous quarter | |||||||||||
Nov-22 | -13.7 | -7.4 | -1.0 | -0.4 | 1.3 | 12.1 | -2.8 | 7.8 | -6.1 | -2.0 | -0.4 |
Feb-23 | 10.8 | -7.8 | -0.4 | -11.2 | -14.1 | 9.2 | -8.7 | 2.7 | -1.6 | -2.7 | -3.3 |
May-23 | -13.3 | -7.4 | -8.6 | 9.4 | 3.3 | -9.6 | -13.3 | 2.4 | -7.3 | -4.0 | -5 |
Aug-23 | -3.3 | -4.6 | 3.6 | -0.4 | -5.0 | -4.3 | -7.6 | -9.0 | -2.6 | -8.7 | -5.1 |
Nov-23 | -3.1 | -3.3 | -3.1 | -3.6 | -6.0 | -4.6 | -14.1 | -23.9 | -4.2 | -0.5 | -4.7 |
Feb-24 | -9.1 | -3.7 | -12.1 | 11.5 | -1.9 | 4.5 | -8.7 | 7.1 | -5.7 | -6.1 | -4.2 |
Change from corresponding quarter of previous year | |||||||||||
Feb-22 | 38.2 | 57.6 | 44.1 | 26.1 | 70.3 | 28.0 | 88.2 | 41.0 | 47.9 | 48.5 | 50.7 |
Feb-23 | 9.6 | 6.0 | 9.5 | -9.4 | -21.3 | 3.0 | -21.1 | -2.1 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1.6 |
Feb-24 | -26.2 | -17.8 | -19.3 | 17.1 | -9.6 | -13.8 | -37.2 | -24.1 | -18.4 | -18.1 | -17.7 |
Data refers to original series unless otherwise stated
Public sector
NSW | Vic | Qld | SA | WA | Tas | NT | ACT | Australia | Australia (Seasonally adjusted) | Australia (Trend) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Change from previous quarter | |||||||||||
Nov-22 | 6.6 | -3.0 | 10.0 | 6.8 | 10.9 | 17.5 | 4.0 | -7.8 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 4.7 |
Feb-23 | -4.8 | 14.7 | -5.7 | 4.3 | -23.6 | 2.7 | -7.2 | -22.7 | -3.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
May-23 | 2.9 | 14.7 | -17.1 | 4.6 | 14.4 | 7.4 | 14.7 | -10.1 | 3.1 | -1.0 | -2.2 |
Aug-23 | -12.6 | -9.4 | 5.3 | -5.5 | 4.1 | -6.8 | 4.8 | -6.7 | -6.5 | -5.8 | -3.9 |
Nov-23 | 4.1 | -15.2 | 8.6 | 3.1 | -2.3 | 2.9 | -13.5 | 2.5 | -1.8 | -2.5 | -4.5 |
Feb-24 | -17.0 | -2.8 | -1.6 | -14.3 | -18.9 | 5.9 | -3.1 | -12.3 | -9.9 | -6.1 | -4.6 |
Change from corresponding quarter of previous year | |||||||||||
Feb-22 | 40.2 | 30.7 | 37.8 | 30.7 | 21.1 | 44.4 | 31.6 | 38.6 | 34.4 | 34.6 | 35.6 |
Feb-23 | 31.5 | 41.9 | 21.8 | 21.2 | -9.7 | 20.4 | -7.1 | 7.1 | 23.6 | 23.7 | 24.9 |
Feb-24 | -22.3 | -14.3 | -6.7 | -12.7 | -5.7 | 9.1 | 0.7 | -24.6 | -14.7 | -14.6 | -14.3 |
Data refers to original series unless otherwise stated
Industry
Nov-22 | Feb-23 | May-23 | Aug-23 | Nov-23 | Feb-24 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mining | 9.8 | 10.6 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 11.5 | 10.7 |
Manufacturing | 25.9 | 25.1 | 22.6 | 25.1 | 23.4 | 23.3 |
Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
Construction | 29.9 | 31.2 | 33.1 | 28.8 | 28.5 | 27.9 |
Wholesale trade | 16.6 | 16.5 | 15.3 | 15.5 | 14.0 | 16.2 |
Retail trade | 49.9 | 36.4 | 32.2 | 38.5 | 37.2 | 32.1 |
Accommodation and food services | 56.3 | 57.8 | 42.5 | 41.4 | 38.8 | 35.1 |
Transport, postal and warehousing | 15.4 | 14.6 | 13.4 | 12.1 | 11.5 | 10.1 |
Information media and telecommunications | 4.3 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
Financial and insurance services | 16.8 | 14.9 | 13.4 | 11.3 | 10.0 | 11.7 |
Rental, hiring and real estate services | 9.4 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 5.8 |
Professional, scientific and technical services | 40.8 | 47.6 | 44.7 | 42.5 | 41.4 | 34.6 |
Administrative and support services | 41.3 | 38.4 | 37.5 | 33.2 | 31.5 | 30.0 |
Public administration and safety | 30.1 | 26.4 | 22.9 | 23.6 | 23.8 | 19.0 |
Education and training | 11.1 | 13.5 | 15.9 | 15.5 | 13.6 | 15.6 |
Health care and social assistance | 62.7 | 72.4 | 72.9 | 68.1 | 67.5 | 65.0 |
Arts and recreation services | 7.8 | 6.6 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 4.9 |
Other services | 18.0 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.2 | 13.5 | 12.6 |
Data Downloads
Time series spreadsheets
Table 1. Job vacancies, states and territories ('000)
Table 2. Job vacancies, private sector, states and territories ('000)
Table 3. Job vacancies, public sector, states and territories ('000)
Table 4. Job vacancies, industry, Australia ('000) - original
Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 6354.0.