Australia has experienced a two per cent drop in total job vacancies for the May 2023 quarter, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this morning.
In the three-month period leading up to May 31, the nation witnessed its fourth consecutive quarterly decline. However, ABS Head of Labour Statistics, Bjorn Jarvis, emphasised that the job market was still much healthier than pre-pandemic times.
“While job vacancies have fallen by around 10 per cent over the past year, they were still high – around 89 per cent higher in May 2023 than in February 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Despite the decrease over the past year, the ABS reported 430,000 job vacancies in May, a decrease of only 9000 compared to February.
Mr Jarvis, however, insisted that businesses were still facing difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.
“The percentage of businesses reporting at least one vacancy has been above 11 per cent since August 2020, and higher than 20 per cent since May 2021,” he said.
“This highlights the impact of a tight labour market on a broad range of businesses.”
New South Wales saw the largest percentage drop in job vacancies, down 12 per cent, while South Australia saw the highest growth, up 9 per cent, for the quarter.
“All states and territories, except for South Australia, have a lower number of vacancies when compared with a year ago, but all remain well above their pre-pandemic levels,” Mr Jarvis said.
The ABS reported that job vacancies declined in 12 of the 18 industries during the quarter, with the largest increase observed in the education and training sector, up 18 per cent.
Meanwhile, the accommodation and food services sector recorded the biggest drop in job vacancies, down 27 per cent, but it still remained significantly higher compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Leading specialised recruitment agency, Robert Half, Director Andrew Brushfield mentioned that today’s ABS figures showed although the market for rampant hiring is easing, the demand for specialised talent still remains.
“Australia’s hiring cadence is decelerating but opportunities are still plentiful for those with highly sought-after skills,” he said.
“While overall national job vacancies have been trending downward over the past few months, companies continue to hire for critical and vacated positions in finance, technology, human resources and business support.”
Retail turnover figures boosted by sales events in May quarter
Also released on Thursday were the nation’s retail turnover figures, which showed a 0.7 per cent boost in May 2023, following a flat result in April and a 0.4 per cent rise in March 2023.
ABS Head of Retail Statistics Ben Dorber said the turnover was supported by increased spending on food and eating out, combined with a boost in spending on discretionary goods.
“This latest rise reflected some resilience in spending with consumers taking advantage of larger than usual promotional activity and sales events for May,” he said.
Retail sales have recorded a 4.2 per cent growth compared to May 2022.
“Most of the growth in food-related spending this year has been driven by rising prices,” Mr Dorber added.
“This was seen in yesterday’s release of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) which showed that food prices rose 7.9 per cent in the 12 months to May.”
“The largest contributor to this increase was from meals out and takeaway food, as businesses passed on their higher costs through price rises.”
Despite the cost-of-living pressures experienced across the past year, it still seems Australians are still willing to spend money, while job vacancies still remain well above pre-pandemic levels.