Total jobs in Australia rose by 0.3% in the June quarter to 16.1 million, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on 6 September. However, the proportion of vacancies to filled jobs fell to its lowest point in more than three years.

While the number of filled jobs rose by 0.4% to nearly 15.8 million, the number of job vacancies fell 3.5% to 350,900.

The proportion of vacant jobs fell to 2.2%, the lowest in three years.

“The labour market remains tight with employment growth generally keeping pace with strong population growth, up 0.8% this quarter,” Kate Lamb, head of labour statistics at ABS, said in a press release. “However, a number of labour market measures moderated during 2023-24, suggesting conditions have softened compared to 2022-23, which was particularly tight.”

In addition, the ABS noted the number of people working multiple jobs fell 1.2% in the June quarter to 961,000.

“The drop in the number of people working multiple jobs coincided with a 2.9% decline in secondary jobs in the labour market in the June quarter,” Lamb said. “This was the largest fall in secondary jobs since September quarter 2021, when public health measures were introduced in response to the Covid-19 Delta variant.”

However, the fall in secondary jobs follows a period of strong growth in tight labour market conditions.

“Despite the June quarter drop, the number of secondary jobs was still 25% higher than September quarter 2021,” Lamb said.