Job vacancies in Australia rose in the November quarter, breaking a streak of nine consecutive quarters of declines, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday.
Total vacancies in Australia rose to 344,000 in November 2024, marking a 4.2% increase from August, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The November total remains 10.3% lower than a year earlier and 27.4% below the record high reached in May 2022. However, vacancies are still 51.3% higher than pre-pandemic levels, underscoring a sustained demand for labour in many sectors.
The increase was observed in 14 of the 18 industries tracked. Customer-facing sectors led the gains, with Arts and Recreation Services up 28.5% and Accommodation and Food Services rising 20.1%. In contrast, Construction (-11.5%) and Education and Training (-9.5%) experienced the largest quarterly declines.
Vacancies grew in both the private sector and the public sector during the quarter. Across states and territories, South Australia led with a 17.7% rise, followed by Queensland at 13.8%. Victoria and Western Australia were the only regions to report declines, down 2.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, commented: “Four industries were still seeing more than double their pre-pandemic levels of job vacancies – Arts and recreation services, Accommodation and food services, Electricity, gas, water and waste services, and Health care and social assistance.
“Only three industries had fewer job vacancies than before the pandemic – Administrative and support services, Wholesale trade, and Financial and insurance services.”
On an annualised basis, manufacturing saw the steepest drop at 36.9%, while Rental, Hiring, and Real Estate Services recorded the strongest growth, up 27.1%.
Despite a slowing economy, Australia’s labour market has remained robust, with the unemployment rate falling to an eight-month low of 3.9% in November.