Job Vacancies Rise In November: Australia

There were 344,000 job vacancies in November 2024, up by 14,000 from August, according to new figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "The number of job vacancies in November 2024 was up by 4.2 per cent. This was the first rise since May 2022, when job vacancies reached their historical peak.

"The number of job vacancies in November was still 39,000, or 10.3 per cent, lower than November 2023, and 130,000, or 27.4 per cent, lower than the peak in May 2022.

"However, while there has been a downward trend in job vacancies over the past two and a half years, the number of vacancies is still 51.3 per cent higher, or around 117,000 more, than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As the most recent Labour Account data shows, job vacancies still make up around 2.1 per cent of jobs in Australia, compared with 1.6 per cent just before the pandemic."

The Job Vacancies Survey was suspended between August 2008 to August 2009 (inclusive).

The number of job vacancies in November 2024 grew in 14 of the 18 industries. The biggest rises were in customer-facing industries including Arts and recreation services (+28.5 per cent) and Accommodation and food services (+20.1 per cent).

The largest quarterly percentage drops in job vacancies were in Construction (-11.5 per cent) and Education and training (-9.5 per cent).

Annually, job vacancies fell in most industries, with the largest drop in Manufacturing (-36.9 per cent). The strongest percentage growth in job vacancies over the year was in Rental, hiring and real estate services (+27.1 per cent).

"Job vacancies in most industries remained higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic," Mr Jarvis said.

"Four industries were still seeing more than double their pre-pandemic levels of job vacancies - Arts and recreation services, Accommodation and food services, Electricity, gas, water and waste services, and Health care and social assistance.

"Only three industries had fewer job vacancies than before the pandemic - Administrative and support services, Wholesale trade, and Financial and insurance services."

Job vacancies rose over the quarter to November 2024 in both the private (+4.7 per cent) and public sectors (+0.4 per cent).

Over the same time, job vacancies also grew in most states and territories. South Australia had the largest percentage rise (+17.7 per cent), followed by Queensland (+13.8 per cent). The only falls were in Victoria (-2.2 per cent) and Western Australia (-0.1 per cent).

The ABS would like to thank businesses in Australia for their continued support in responding to our surveys.