More than 3% of jobs vacant in September quarter

The ABS revealed that around one in every 30 jobs (3.2 per cent) were vacant in the September quarter and that is despite more people working more than one job.

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said as the unemployment rate has been falling during a tight labour market, the proportion of vacant jobs has been increasing.

“In the September quarter it was 3.2 per cent, almost in line with the unemployment rate (3.5 per cent), having been 1.6 per cent just before the pandemic,” he said.

“These two measures are useful to track together, along with underemployment, to understand both supply and demand in this particularly tight labour market.”

Quarterly growth in jobs and hours worked slowed in the September quarter, with filled jobs increasing slightly (up 0.2 per cent) and hours worked remaining flat.

“The rate of multiple job holding increased by less than 0.1 percentage point to 6.5 per cent, another series high,” he said.

“The increase from around 5.9 per cent before the pandemic highlights that people are now more likely to be working more than one job.”

The proportion of vacant jobs rose in all industries between March 2020 and September 2022. The increase was most pronounced in accommodation and food services and arts and recreation services — two industries for which jobs and hours have also been particularly impacted during the pandemic.

“The Accommodation and food services industry saw the largest increase in the share of jobs that were vacant, increasing from 1.2 per cent in March quarter 2020 to 5.1 per cent in the September quarter 2022,” Mr Jarvis said.

While hours worked were largely unchanged across the whole economy, there continued to be variation at the industry level. Hours worked increased during the quarter in eight of the 19 industries and fell in the remaining 11 industries.

Wholesale trade (up 10.8 per cent) and information media and telecommunications (up 9.7 per cent) saw the highest growth in hours worked in the September quarter. Mining (down 5.6 per cent) and arts and recreation services (down 5.4 per cent) recorded the largest decreases.

Since the delta period restrictions started to be lifted in the December quarter 2021, hours worked increased by 3.9 per cent. The largest increases were in the accommodation and food services and arts and recreation services industries (both up 23 per cent). The largest decreases were in public administration and safety (down 6.5 per cent), mining (down 6.4 per cent), and manufacturing (down 5.0 per cent).