Job vacancies fell 5 per cent in November, down 23,000 from August 2022, to 444,000. The 12-month previously, the job vacancy figure was 398,000, and in February 2020, the figure stood at just 228,000.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said that while the number of vacancies has begun to fall over the past six months, the ABS is continuing to see a greater share of businesses reporting at least one vacancy.
“It was 28 per cent of businesses in November 2022, a slight increase from August 2022 (27 per cent) and more than double what it was in February 2020 (11 per cent),” Mr Jarvis said.
“These figures continue to show the high demand for workers across many businesses and all industries, in a tight labour market.”
The decline in job vacancies was driven by the private sector, which generally accounts for around nine in every 10 vacancies. Private sector vacancies fell by 6 per cent from August to November 2022, while public sector vacancies increased by 6 per cent.
When compared with the pre-pandemic levels, both private and public sector vacancies were close to double what they were in February 2020 (up by 96 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively).
“There had been more rapid growth in private sector vacancies up to May 2022, from which they have fallen over the past six months,” Mr Jarvis said.
“Public sector vacancies have increased at a slower but steadier rate over that period.”
Across the states and territories, the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies was in NSW (down 12 per cent) and Victoria (down 7 per cent). The largest percentage quarterly growth was in Tasmania (up 13 per cent).
While job vacancies fell in 13 of the 18 industries, they remained high across all industries when compared with February 2020.
This was most acute in arts and recreation services and accommodation and food services, where vacancies were almost four times what they were before the pandemic.
“High numbers of job vacancies in all industries continue to reflect ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer-facing industries,” Mr Jarvis said.
