There were 389,000 job vacancies in Australia in November 2023, 3,000 fewer than in August, according to the latest figures from the ABS.

Quarterly declines were seen in most industries, with the largest falls seen in rental, hiring and real estate services (-14%) and education and training (-12%). Only mining (+2%) and public administration and safety (+1%) saw increases in vacancy numbers over this period.

According to David Taylor, ABS head of labour statistics: “The number of job vacancies fell by around 1 per cent between August and November. This was the sixth straight quarterly drop in job vacancies, which have now fallen by around 18 per cent from the historical peak in May 2022. However, this quarter saw a relatively small decline, compared with the 8 per cent fall in August.”

Despite this quarterly decrease, job vacancy levels remain high compared to pre-pandemic levels (February 2020), with this remaining particularly pronounced in customer facing industries such as accommodation and food services, and arts and recreation services.

Commenting on this, Taylor added “Job vacancies remain well above their pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, around 71 per cent higher than February 2020. The slow fall in the number of job vacancies from its peak also coincided with recent increases in the unemployment rate. However, both continue to suggest that the labour market remains relatively tight.”

“The number of unemployed people per job vacancy was 1.5 in November. While this is higher than 1.1, when it was at its pandemic low, it is still well below the 3.1 figure in February 2020,” Taylor said.

“Similarly, the most recent Labour Account data for the September quarter, showed that job vacancies still accounted for around 2.6 per cent of jobs in the labour market, which was well above the 1.6 per cent from the March quarter 2020.”