Employers report difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff
The number of job vacancies in Australia remains elevated despite a declining trend over the past quarters, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Between February and May, job vacancies declined 432,000, down by 9,000 or two per cent.
This is the fourth consecutive quarterly decrease in job vacancies recorded by the ABS, which stressed that vacancy figures remain elevated.
"While job vacancies have fallen by around 10% over the past year, they were still high – around 89% higher in May 2023 than in February 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, in a statement.
Drivers of decline in employment
The private sector drove the decline in the job vacancies, after it dropped by two per cent from 394,000 to 385,000.
For the public sector, the ABS said it remained steady at 47,000 vacancies fuelled by the demand for education and health workers.
Per state and territory, the largest drop in job vacancies was recorded in New South Wales with 12%.
"All states and territories, except for South Australia (+9%), have a lower number of vacancies when compared with a year ago, but all remain well above their pre-pandemic levels," Jarvis said.
By industry, 12 of 18 industries recorded a drop in vacancies, led by the Accommodation and food services sector (-27%).
Recruiting, retaining challenges
Meanwhile, Jarvis said May saw businesses continued to "report difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff."
According to the ABS, the percentage of businesses reporting at least one job vacancy increased slightly to 25% in May.
"The percentage of businesses reporting at least one vacancy has been above 11% since August 2020, and higher than 20% since May 2021. This highlights the impact of a tight labour market on a broad range of businesses," Jarvis said.
These challenges in recruitment and retaining are also reflected in Australia's decade-high job mobility at 9.5%
This means 1.3 million employed people changed their employer or business in the 12 months to February 2023, according to the ABS.
"Job mobility in Australia has generally been trending down for decades and reached a record low of 7.5% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the 2023 figure might be higher and is in fact the highest it's been since the early 2010s, it's still relatively low compared to earlier decades," Jarvis said.
