Job vacancies in Australia increased by 26.8% between February 2020 and February 2021, according to new seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The total number of job vacancies stood at 288,700.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS said the increase “reflected the pace of recovery in labour demand over the second half of 2020 and early 2021, and labour shortages in some industries.”

"When we asked businesses experiencing labour shortages the reasons for this, more than usual noted difficulty in filling vacancies for lower paid jobs,” Jarvis said. "This was most commonly reported to us by businesses in the accommodation and food services industry. 31% of businesses in that industry reported vacancies in February 2021, more than double last February (15%)."

Private sector job vacancies increased by 28.5% while public sector vacancies increased by 12.8% over the year.

The Northern Territory saw the biggest yearly increase at 68% followed by Tasmania at 66%. 

The largest percentage increases in job vacancies over the year were in the accommodation and food services (88%), Construction (60%), and Other services industries (44%).

When compared to the previous three-month period from November 2020 to February 2021, the number of job vacancies increased by 13.7%.