Australia’s job vacancies mostly steady in three months to November

[SYDNEY] Job vacancies in Australia were mostly steady in the November quarter as a drop in private roles was all but offset by gains in the public sector, pointing to a labour market tracking sideways.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) out on Wednesday showed vacancies slipped 0.2 pre cent in the three months to November, after a drop of 2.7 per cent the previous quarter. That left vacancies down 5.2 per cent on a year earlier at 326,700, but still about 44 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.

Vacancies in the private sector dropped 0.5 per cent while those in the public sector rose 1.8 per cent. Vacancies fell in seven of the 18 industries covered, led by education and training, while the wholesale trade saw gains.

Employment growth has slowed markedly across the economy in recent months but the jobless rate has hovered at a historically low rate of 4.3 per cent, a reason that policymakers still judge the labour market to be a little tight relative to full employment. REUTERS