Job advertisements in Australia tumbled by 18.5% year-on-year in September 2023, according to data from job board Seek.

When compared to the previous month, job ads decreased by 1.8% in September 2023.

Job ad volumes in September 2023 remain 17.1% higher than September 2019 levels. All states and territories are recording higher job ad volumes than pre-Covid except for the Australian Capital Territory, which is 15.9% below September 2019.

Growth in applications per job ad, which have been rising since February, slowed in August, up 0.7% from the month prior.

Kendra Banks, managing director, Seek ANZ, said, “Job ads declined almost across the board in September, with science & technology roles (albeit a small industry) the only one to record increased demand for workers.”

“Despite the downward year-on-year trend we have been recording this year, job ads still remain higher than pre-Covid levels,” Banks said. “This demonstrates how truly exceptional the boom era of 2022 was and what we are seeing now is a slow moderation of that extremely high demand.”

“Applications per job ad do continue to rise, but the rate has slowed, which may be an indication that application activity is levelling out after months of growth,” Banks added.

By state, the Northern Territory recorded a 1.8% increase over the year. The biggest annual decrease was seen in Victoria (25.5%).

On a monthly basis, falling job ad volumes in Queensland (-3.5%), Victoria (-2.3%), Western Australia (-2.2%) and New South Wales (-1.4%), drove the overall decline for the nation.

On the other hand South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory recorded rises in job ads over the month.

Aside from science & technology, where jobs ads rose 3.5% over the month, all industries recorded a decline in job ad numbers in September. Engineering recorded the largest decrease month-on-month (-8.0%), followed by banking & financial services (-6.5%) and consulting & strategy (-6.4%).