Total job vacancies in Australia stood at 363,800 in February 2024, a decrease of 17.7% when compared to February 2023 and down 6.1% from November 2023, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Despite this being the seventh consecutive quarterly decrease, the level of job vacancies in February 2024 remained elevated.

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said, “Job vacancies are now 23.5% lower than they were at their peak in May 2022. However, they remain well above the pre-Covid-19 pandemic level and are still 59.8% higher than February 2020, or around 136,000 more vacancies.”

The ongoing high level of vacancies reflected the continuing labour shortages in many industries, the ABS noted.

Private sector vacancies in February were 323,700, a decrease of 6.1% from November 2023 and a fall of 18.1% from the year prior. Public sector vacancies were 40,100, also a decrease of 6.1% from November 2023 but a decrease of 14.6% from the year prior.

When it comes to proportion of businesses reporting vacancies, by states and territories, the Northern Territory had the highest figure in February at 21.4%. The Northern Territory also saw the biggest change (-30.4%) from the corresponding quarter of the previous year. South Australia reported the highest increase at 13.0%.

By industry, the administrative and support services industry had the highest at 32.4%.

When it comes to reasons for vacancies, replacement/resignations ranked at the top at 82.8%. This was followed by increased workload (39.2%). The Bureau noted that businesses may have multiple reasons for reporting job vacancies.