According to the latest ABS figures there were 471,000 job vacancies in August 2022, a decrease of 10,000 from May 2022.
The number of job vacancies in August 2022 was 41 per cent higher than August last year (334,000), when the labour market was impacted by the delta wave lockdowns. The August 2022 job vacancies were also more than double what they were in February 2020 (227,000), prior to the pandemic.
However, the scale of the labour shortage crisis impacting retail continues to worsen showing 46,100 job vacancies in retail trade in August — an increase of 5,800 or 14.4 per cent compared to May this year.
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) chief executive Paul Zahra said while overall job vacancies declined 2.1 per cent since May, retail was one of few industries to record an increase, which is a significant concern for businesses looking to ramp up their workforces for the festive trading season.
“Labour shortages are the number one concern for retail currently with many businesses forced to reduce trading hours in response to worsening staff availability. Unfortunately, this situation is exacerbating during the most critical time of year on the retail calendar — the Christmas trading period,” Mr Zahra said.
“In advance of the holiday shopping surge, retailers have already begun their recruitment drives for tens of thousands of additional Christmas casuals to cope with demand, however with the scale of the labour crisis getting worse for retail, it’s unlikely that businesses will be able to fill all the roles they have available to trade at their full potential.
“The job vacancy figures align with the experiences of our ARA members, with over 90 per cent saying labour shortages have stayed the same or gotten worse for their businesses over the past three months.
“Also concerning is that job vacancies in transport, postal and warehousing have increased 16.4 per cent in the three months to August, while vacancies in accommodation and food services have also increased 13.9 per cent.”
Lauren Ford, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said despite the overall quarterly decrease, the number of job vacancies continued to increase in some industries, such as retail trade (up 15 per cent) and accommodation and food services (up 14 per cent).
“This reflected ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer facing industries,” Ms Ford said.
Across the states and territories, the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies was in Tasmania (down 17 per cent) and Western Australia (down 7 per cent). The largest percentage growth was in Queensland (up 9 per cent), followed by Victoria (up 5 per cent).
The industries with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies over the quarter were construction (16 per cent) and education and training (12 per cent). The industries with the highest percentage growth were transport, postal and warehousing (17 per cent) and retail trade (15 per cent).
The decline in job vacancies was driven by the private sector, which decreased by 3 per cent over the three months to August 2022. At the same time, public sector vacancies increased by 11 per cent. However, vacancies in both the private and public sectors increased over the year (40 per cent and 45 per cent).
