Job vacancies in Australia surged to all-time highs in the May quarter as firms struggled to find staff amid a tightening labour market. There were 480,000 job vacancies in May 2022 in Australia, higher than more than 58,000 more than in February 2022, according to new seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The May 2022 figures were more than double the vacancies in February 2020 (227,000).
Data showed private sector vacancies were 439,100, an increase of 14.2% from February 2022. Public sector vacancies were 41,000, an increase of 9.4% from February 2022.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said: “The number of job vacancies rose by 14% over the three months to May 2022, to almost half a million jobs. This reflected increasing demand for workers, particularly in customer facing roles, with businesses continuing to face disruptions to their operations, as well as ongoing labour shortages.”
Hiring in Australia has beaten all forecasts in recent months to drive the jobless rate down to its lowest in almost 50 years at 3.9%.
“A quarter of businesses reported having at least one vacancy in May 2022. This rate was more than double the pre-pandemic level in February 2020 (11 per cent), which highlights the extent to which businesses are finding it more difficult to find staff,” he added.
The large growth in vacancies in Australia through the pandemic has coincided with a decline in the number of unemployed people. “As a result, there was almost the same number of unemployed people and vacant jobs in May 2022 (1.1 unemployed people per vacant job), compared with three times as many people before the start of the pandemic (3.1),” Mr Jarvis said.
Among the states, the largest growth in job vacancies was in Victoria, which increased by 18% over the three months to May 2022, followed by New South Wales (12 per cent).
While job vacancies were considerably higher than before the pandemic in all industries, the extent of quarterly growth varied between industries.
The industries with the highest growth in vacancies over the quarter were retail trade (38%), information media and telecommunications services (18%) and Arts and recreation services (16%).
That was one reason the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has raised interest rates twice since May to 0.85%, and is considered likely to hike by another 50 basis points at its July policy meeting next week.
Australia job vacancies, change from February 2020 and February 2022
| Industry Division | % Change February 2022 to May 2022 | % Change February 2020 to May 2022 |
| Arts and recreation services | 15.7 | 259.9 |
| Accommodation and food services | 12.7 | 252.4 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 4.7 | 204 |
| Construction | 13.2 | 140 |
| Manufacturing | -5.5 | 136.1 |
| Health care and social assistance | 14.4 | 131.5 |
| Other services | 2.1 | 123.3 |
| Retail trade | 38.3 | 113.1 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 3 | 101.8 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 5.5 | 96.5 |
| Public administration and safety | 12 | 81.7 |
| Mining | 6.3 | 72.1 |
| Financial and insurance services | 11.4 | 69 |
| Education and training | 9.3 | 63.7 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 1.8 | 63 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 18.1 | 57.4 |
| Wholesale trade | -11.8 | 51.5 |
| Administrative and support services | -5.9 | 22.5 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
(With Agency Inputs)
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