For the eighth consecutive quarter job vacancies have declined across the nation as high costs of doing business continue to challenge employers.
In the May quarter, vacancies decreased by 2.7% and declined by 16.5% in the year. There are now 352,600 vacant roles across Australia, a drop of nearly 10,000 since February. Since their peak at 476,800 in May 2022, vacant positions have dropped by 26%.
South Australia experienced a significant 9.4% drop in vacancies in the quarter, after shedding 4400 vacant jobs. The biggest share of the reduction in vacancies in South Australia was in the private sector, whose number of vacancies declined 11.2%. The SA public sector in the same period saw a 4.3% increase in vacancies.
However, vacancies are still far above pre-Covid levels. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports there are around 125,000 more vacancies than in February 2020.
