Job mobility

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Job mobility and job search of employed people, including changing industry or occupation, job tenure, and changes in current job (e.g. hours).

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Reference period
February 2024

Key statistics

During the year ending February 2024:

  • Job mobility decreased to 8%
  • Younger workers are more mobile than older workers, with 13% of people aged 15 to 24 years changing jobs
  • 2.1 million people left or lost a job
  • The annual retrenchment rate was 1.7%.

More information from the annual Participation, Job Search and Mobility (PJSM) survey is available in these topic-based releases:

Microdata from the PJSM survey for 2015 to 2024 is available in TableBuilder and DataLab (as a supplementary file to the Longitudinal Labour Force). For more information, refer to Microdata and TableBuilder: Participation, Job Search and Mobility

A detailed data item list for the PJSM microdata is available in Microdata and TableBuilder: Participation, Job Search and Mobility

Duration of employment

There were 14 million people employed in February 2024. Over half (57%) had been employed in their current job for less than 5 years. About 19% had been in their job for less than 1 year.

The proportion of those in their current job between 1 and 4 years has risen since 2023, up from 35% to 39%. 

About 1 in 10 employed people (10%) had been in their current job for 20 years or more.

New entrants to employment

2.6 million people started their current job in the year ending February 2024. This was a decrease of 0.3 million people into employment compared to the 2.9 million people who started their job in the year ending February 2023.

Of those who started their current job in the year ending February 2024, 1.5 million entered or re-entered employment without any previous job activity during the last 12 months (i.e. they did not change jobs during the year). These 'new entrants' into employment include people who have:

  • Never worked before and started their first job
  • Started a new job after leaving or losing a previous job from more than 12 months ago
  • Resumed a held job or returned to a previous job after a period of absence (and reported their current duration of employment from their restart date). 

New entrants were evenly split between men (749,300) and women (730,000). 81% of new entrants were aged under 45 years with 37% aged 15 to 24 years.

The industries with the most new entrants were:

  • Health care and social assistance - 239,900
  • Accommodation and food services - 205,800
  • Retail trade - 174,100
  • Education and training - 108,200

  • Construction - 104,500.

     

Job mobility

1.1 million people changed jobs during the year ending February 2024, equating to a job mobility rate of 8% of all employed people changing jobs during the year. This was down from 9.6% in the year ending February 2023.

Note: 2015 to 2024 data are available from Table 01 in Data downloads. Pre-2015 historical data can be found in the 2018 release of Participation, Job Search and Mobility publication. 

Age

Younger workers are generally more mobile than older workers. In February 2024, the job mobility rates for selected age groups were as follows:

  • Aged 15 - 24 years - 12.6%
  • Aged 25 - 44 years - 9.3%
  • Aged 45 - 64 years - 5.3%
  • Aged 65 years and over - 1.7%.

Note: 2015 to 2024 data are available from Table 01 in Data downloads.

State and territory

The states and territories with the highest rate of job mobility were:

  • Australian Capital Territory - 10.6%
  • Tasmania - 8.7%
  • Western Australia - 8.7%
  • Queensland - 8.6%.

Job mobility decreased in all states and territories. The largest falls were for:

  • Australian Capital Territory - down 1.8 percentage points (from 12.4% to 10.6%)
  • Victoria - down 1.7 percentage points (from 9.3% to 7.6%).

Note:

  • Job mobility is the number of people who changed jobs during the year as a proportion of people who were employed at the end of the year

Change in occupation

Job mobility decreased in all of the eight major occupation groups. The largest rises were for:

  • Machinery operators and drivers (11.9% to 7.9%)
  • Sales workers (13% to 9.7%)
  • Labourers (11.5% to 9.1%).

Note:

  • The occupation at the end of the year is not necessarily the same as the occupation at the start of the year, as people can change occupations when they change jobs. See Chart 5b for an alternative view of job mobility that groups people by their occupation at the end of the year (i.e. the occupation they entered when changing jobs).

Chart 5b: Job mobility by occupation that was entered

 

As in previous years, Professionals made up the largest share of people who changed jobs. There were 238,900 professionals that changed jobs during the year ending February 2024, which was a 24% share of all people who changed jobs, equal to the previous year. 

The next largest share was Technicians and trades workers at 14%, while Machinery operators and drivers had the smallest share (6.1% share, down from 7.2% from the previous year).

Chart 6b: People who changed jobs by occupation that was entered

Of the 1.1 million people who changed jobs in the last year, 60% (672,600) were working in the same major occupation group as they were at the start of the year. 

Sales workers was the only occupation groups who had a higher proportion of people who changed jobs into a different major occupation group (57%) than in the same major occupation group (43%).

Change in industry

Job mobility deceased in most industries, with the largest decreases in:

  • Arts and Recreation Services (11.6% to 6.2%)
  • Transport, postal and warehousing (11.6% to 7%)
  • Financial and Insurance Services (9.9% to 5.4%).

The industry that saw the largest increase in job mobility was Information Media and Telecommunications (9.8% to 11.7%), which indicates more people were leaving the professional, scientific and technical services industry.

Note:

  • The industry at the end of the year is not necessarily the same as the industry at the start of the year, as people can change industries when they change jobs. See Chart 8b for an alternative view of job mobility that groups people by their industry at the end of the year (i.e. the industry they entered when changing jobs).

Chart 8b: Job mobility by industry of job that was entered

 

The Health Care and Social Assistance accounted for the largest share of people who changed jobs in the year ending February 2024 (13.3%). This was followed by Accommodation and Food Services (11.3%) and Retail Trade (11.1%).

Chart 9b: People who changed jobs by industry of job that was entered

Left or lost a job

There were 2.1 million people in February 2024 who left or lost a job in the previous 12 months, down from 2.3 million in February 2023. Following a record low in 2023 (8%, or 182,700 people), the number of people retrenched in 2024 was up to 11% or 233,800 people.

Almost a third (27%) of all people who left or lost a job in the 12 months to February 2024 were people who left a job to obtain a better job or just wanted a change (583,800), up from 22% during the pandemic in the year ending February 2021.

The percentage of people who retired last year was 4.6% which was down from 5% in February 2023.

Note:

  • Owner managers whose businesses closed down for economic reasons are included in "Retrenched"
  • Owner managers whose businesses closed down or were sold for other reasons are included in "Other reasons"

More males than females reported being retrenched last year (13% and 9%). The most common reason people left a job was to get a better job or just wanted a change (30% for males and 25% for females). A higher percentage of females reported leaving a job for family reasons than males (13% and 4.6%).

Note:

  • Owner managers whose businesses closed down for economic reasons are included in "Retrenched"
  • Owner managers whose businesses closed down or were sold for other reasons are included in "Other reasons"

Retrenchments

The annual retrenchment rate is the number of people who were retrenched in a given year as a proportion of the number of people who were employed at the start of that year. 

In the year ending February 2024, the retrenchment rate was 1.7%, which was up 0.3 percentage points, from the lowest annual rate on record in February 2023 (since 1972). The highest retrenchment rate on record was 7.2% in the year ending February 1991.

Data downloads

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Job mobility

Data files
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Engagements and Separations

Data files

  • Table 4. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry

    Download xlsx [2.73 MB]

  • Table 5. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by industry

    Download xlsx [2.7 MB]

  • Table 6. Separations and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation

    Download xlsx [1.8 MB]

  • Table 7. Engagements and other changes in employment of people employed last year by occupation

    Download xlsx [1.74 MB]

Relative standard errors, Tables 1 to 7

Data files
Download zip [9.85 MB]

Previous catalogue number

This release uses ABS catalogue number 6223.0*.

Data from this release was previously published in:

 

* Note: Catalogue number 6223.0 was previously used for Family Status and Employment Status of the Population, Nov 1974-75.

** Note: Catalogue number 6226.0 was previously used for School Leavers, 1970 to 1974: their Employment Status and Education Experience, May 1975.

Methodology

Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia methodology, February 2024