28 March 2019

Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)

The number of job vacancies in Australia increased by 1.1 per cent over the February 2019 quarter, according to new trend figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Bruce Hockman, Chief Economist at the ABS, said that job vacancies continued to grow but at a slower rate than in 2018.

"Growth in the quarterly trend measure of job vacancies eased further to 1.1 per cent, which was well below the 5.2 per cent seen a year ago," Mr Hockman said.

"This was consistent with the recent slowing in other economic indicators."

Over the year, job vacancies increased by 9.2 per cent, with private sector vacancies increasing by 9.2 per cent and public sector vacancies by 9.4 per cent.

The seasonally adjusted number of job vacancies increased by 1.4 per cent over the February 2019 quarter.

In original series terms, New South Wales contributed the most to the growth in vacancies over the year, with health care and social assistance, and construction the two leading industries.


Media notes:

• Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
• For media requests and interviews, contact ABS Media on 1300 175 070 or at media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
• Subscribe to our media release notification service to be notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.