National job vacancies down 5.2pc

Western Australia’s decrease in job vacancies during August 2024 quarter was less than the national average, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found.

Vacancy rates fell across all states and territories, aside from Queensland’s 0.9 per cent gain, with WA’s rate shedding one per cent – down significantly from 12.3 per cent in May.

Nationally, job vacancies fell from 348,000 to 330,000 – or 5.2 per cent – between May and August, marking the ninth consecutive drop.

“Annual drops in job vacancies were seen in all industries except for rental, hiring and real estate services, where they were slightly higher at 0.2 per cent more than in August 2023,” ABS head of labour statistics David Taylor said.

“Job vacancies were still higher than their pre-pandemic levels in all but four of the 18 industries - administrative and support services, financial and insurance services, wholesale trade, and information media and telecommunications. 

“Vacancies were still more than double pre-pandemic levels in some industries, most notably in arts and recreation services, along with accommodation and food services.”