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Job Vacancies, Australia

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Results of the quarterly Job Vacancies Survey containing estimates of job vacancies classified by industry, sector and state/territory.

Reference period

February 2021

Released

1/04/2021

View all releases

Key statistics

The seasonally adjusted estimates for the February 2021 quarter are as follows:

Total job vacancies were 288,700, an increase of 13.7% from November 2020.
Private sector vacancies were 260,300, an increase of 14.0% from November 2020.
Public sector vacancies were 28,400, an increase of 11.1% from November 2020.


	Feb 2021 ('000)	Nov 2020 to Feb 2021 (% change)	Feb 2020 to Feb 2021 (% change)
Private sector	260.3	14.0	28.5
Public sector	28.4	11.1	12.8
Private and public sectors	288.7	13.7	26.8

Job vacancies ('000) total & private sector - seasonally adjusted
	Total	Private
Feb-13	149.8	138.5
May-13	143.5	132.4
Aug-13	140.6	129.1
Nov-13	138.9	128.9
Feb-14	143.2	133
May-14	147.4	135.1
Aug-14	146.6	134.2
Nov-14	149.7	137.2
Feb-15	151.9	138.6
May-15	157.7	145.1
Aug-15	161.7	148.2
Nov-15	167.4	151.7
Feb-16	172.3	156.6
May-16	171.1	154.6
Aug-16	177.4	160.3
Nov-16	182.2	164.8
Feb-17	185.1	166.8
May-17	185.7	166.8
Aug-17	200.9	181.1
Nov-17	204.4	186.1
Feb-18	212.9	193.1
May-18	223.9	203.3
Aug-18	228.5	207.9
Nov-18	230.2	208.7
Feb-19	232.5	211.2
May-19	228.2	205.9
Aug-19	223.9	200.4
Nov-19	226.7	202.3
Feb-20	227.7	202.6
May-20	129.3	111.4
Aug-20	205.9	184
Nov-20	253.9	228.4
Feb-21	288.7	260.3

Job vacancies ('000) total & private sector - seasonally adjusted

["","Total","Private"]

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[]

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Survey Impacts

Continued suspension of trend estimates

Survey responses remain high in February

Comparing job vacancies with other measures of labour demand

COVID-19 impacts on job vacancies

Job vacancies ('000), Australia - seasonally adjusted
	Job vacancies
Feb-81	37.4
May-81	44
Aug-81	44.5
Nov-81	41.7
Feb-82	37.3
May-82	30.3
Aug-82	26.8
Nov-82	30.3
Feb-83	29.7
May-83	32.4
Aug-83	33.6
Nov-83	36.3
Feb-84	44.6
May-84	40.3
Aug-84	48.5
Nov-84	49.8
Feb-85	60.4
May-85	68.6
Aug-85	67.2
Nov-85	66.2
Feb-86	64.8
May-86	66.1
Aug-86	61.1
Nov-86	66.3
Feb-87	69.5
May-87	66.9
Aug-87	70.1
Nov-87	66.9
Feb-88	70.2
May-88	74.4
Aug-88	80.8
Nov-88	85.1
Feb-89	84.7
May-89	93.7
Aug-89	76.6
Nov-89	79.2
Feb-90	71.9
May-90	64
Aug-90	56.7
Nov-90	41.6
Feb-91	33.8
May-91	31.6
Aug-91	29.8
Nov-91	30.9
Feb-92	33.3
May-92	31.9
Aug-92	33
Nov-92	36.9
Feb-93	37
May-93	42
Aug-93	46.2
Nov-93	48.5
Feb-94	57.6
May-94	69.5
Aug-94	82.2
Nov-94	85.6
Feb-95	72.7
May-95	77.3
Aug-95	74.6
Nov-95	72.5
Feb-96	81
May-96	76.7
Aug-96	77.5
Nov-96	82.5
Feb-97	81.3
May-97	82.8
Aug-97	84.9
Nov-97	90.4
Feb-98	98.3
May-98	104
Aug-98	89.8
Nov-98	102
Feb-99	87.2
May-99	100.2
Aug-99	106.9
Nov-99	109.6
Feb-00	118.1
May-00	115.9
Aug-00	114.4
Nov-00	114.8
Feb-01	99.7
May-01	94
Aug-01	90.2
Nov-01	88.5
Feb-02	90.5
May-02	96.2
Aug-02	103
Nov-02	97.6
Feb-03	109.7
May-03	104.6
Aug-03	104.1
Nov-03	107.5
Feb-04	103.8
May-04	127.1
Aug-04	124.6
Nov-04	139.2
Feb-05	146.2
May-05	140.9
Aug-05	139
Nov-05	134.1
Feb-06	144.3
May-06	154.1
Aug-06	154.9
Nov-06	162.1
Feb-07	160.8
May-07	168.6
Aug-07	173.3
Nov-07	183.3
Feb-08	178.2
May-08	184.5
Aug-08
Nov-08
Feb-09
May-09
Aug-09
Nov-09	148.9
Feb-10	168.4
May-10	170.3
Aug-10	178.6
Nov-10	191.1
Feb-11	189.4
May-11	187.3
Aug-11	183.4
Nov-11	179.3
Feb-12	181.8
May-12	178.1
Aug-12	175.3
Nov-12	164.8
Feb-13	149.8
May-13	143.5
Aug-13	140.6
Nov-13	138.9
Feb-14	143.2
May-14	147.4
Aug-14	146.6
Nov-14	149.7
Feb-15	151.9
May-15	157.7
Aug-15	161.7
Nov-15	167.4
Feb-16	172.3
May-16	171.1
Aug-16	177.4
Nov-16	182.2
Feb-17	185.1
May-17	185.7
Aug-17	200.9
Nov-17	204.4
Feb-18	212.9
May-18	223.9
Aug-18	228.5
Nov-18	230.2
Feb-19	232.5
May-19	228.2
Aug-19	223.9
Nov-19	226.7
Feb-20	227.7
May-20	129.3
Aug-20	205.9
Nov-20	253.9
Feb-21	288.7

Job vacancies, states comparison during COVID-19 - original
	Feb 2020 ('000)	May 2020 ('000)	Aug 2020 ('000)	Nov 2020 ('000)	Feb 2021 ('000)
NSW	79.3	39.8	62.2	82.7	94
Vic.	59.7	28.7	45.8	58.4	65.6
Qld.	38.4	25.2	42.1	47.9	53.5
SA	11.7	6.8	12.5	15.6	19.3
WA	27.6	16.8	32.2	37.4	40
Tas.	3.4	1.9	3.4	5.1	5.7
NT	2.9	1.7	4.2	4.2	4.8
ACT	6.6	3.6	5.6	7.9	8.2

Job vacancies, annual change by industry - original
Industry	Annual change (%)
Accommodation and food services	87.6
Construction	60.3
Other services	44.5
Rental, hiring and real estate services	43
Manufacturing	35.9
Retail trade	31.5
Health care and social assistance	31.3
Arts and recreation services	30.4
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	25.1
Transport, postal and warehousing	23.7
Financial and insurance services	23.2
Professional, scientific and technical services	18.7
Mining	15.2
Public administration and safety	13.2
Information media and telecommunications	11.1
Wholesale trade	10.6
Education and training	10.1
Administrative and support services	-8.1

Proportion of businesses reporting vacancies - industry
	Feb-21	May-20	Feb-20
Mining	21.1%	8.3%	20.9%
Manufacturing	15.3%	4.4%	8.0%
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	13.9%	11.8%	10.2%
Construction	22.8%	4.6%	13.6%
Wholesale trade	15.2%	14.1%	14.6%
Retail trade	16.4%	9.7%	13.3%
Accommodation and food services	30.5%	2.3%	14.5%
Transport, postal and warehousing	20.2%	4.1%	5.3%
Information media and telecommunications	18.3%	7.0%	14.0%
Financial and insurance services	16.9%	5.0%	4.5%
Rental, hiring and real estate services	11.1%	4.1%	6.9%
Professional, scientific and technical services	14.5%	9.2%	9.4%
Administrative and support services	17.1%	7.8%	16.5%
Public administration and safety	30.0%	22.6%	31.3%
Education and training	8.6%	4.0%	7.5%
Health care and social assistance	13.4%	6.5%	8.2%
Arts and recreation services	3.1%	0.5%	3.4%
Other services	21.1%	5.6%	10.6%
All Industries	18.1%	6.5%	11.0%

Proportion of businesses reporting vacancies - states and territories
	Feb-21	May-20	Feb-20
New South Wales	19.6%	5.8%	12.1%
Victoria	18.0%	6.0%	11.2%
Queensland	17.4%	10.5%	10.4%
South Australia	15.7%	2.9%	8.1%
Western Australia	16.3%	5.5%	10.2%
Tasmania	17.8%	4.5%	8.3%
Northern Territory	21.8%	6.7%	9.2%
Australian Capital Territory	12.1%	3.5%	9.4%
Australia	18.1%	6.5%	11.0%

States and territories

Job vacancies ('000), states and territories
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	80.2	60.1	39.2	11.4	25.7	3.6	3.5	7.7	231.4	226.7
Feb-20	79.3	59.7	38.4	11.7	27.6	3.4	2.9	6.6	229.5	227.7
May-20	39.8	28.7	25.2	6.8	16.8	1.9	1.7	3.6	124.5	129.3
Aug-20	62.2	45.8	42.1	12.5	32.2	3.4	4.2	5.6	208.0	205.9
Nov-20	82.7	58.4	47.9	15.6	37.4	5.1	4.2	7.9	259.2	253.9
Feb-21	94.0	65.6	53.5	19.3	40.0	5.7	4.8	8.2	291.0	288.7

Change from previous quarter (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	10.1	-1.7	0.2	0.4	-2.6	-0.7	-19.5	2.0	2.2	1.2
Feb-20	-1.1	-0.8	-2.0	2.7	7.3	-5.7	-17.8	-13.8	-0.8	0.5
May-20	-49.9	-51.9	-34.3	-41.6	-39.1	-45.7	-39.7	-46.2	-45.8	-43.2
Aug-20	56.4	59.5	67.0	83.2	91.4	84.7	146.3	57.2	67.1	59.2
Nov-20	32.9	27.6	13.7	24.6	16.2	50.4	0.1	40.4	24.6	23.3
Feb-21	13.6	12.4	11.8	24.2	6.8	10.2	13.1	3.5	12.3	13.7

Change from corresponding quarter of previous year (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Feb-19	9.8	9.8	0.7	-10.3	29.4	0.3	1.7	16.3	9.2	9.2
Feb-20	-5.6	-7	4.9	24.6	0.5	15.3	-21	0.1	-2.2	-2.1
Feb-21	18.5	10	39.6	65.6	44.8	66	68	22.8	26.8	26.8

All figures are original unless stated otherwise
Trend figures are not currently available

Private sector, states and territories

Job vacancies ('000), private sector - states and territories
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	72.2	54.9	35.5	9.5	23.5	2.9	3.0	5.3	206.7	202.3
Feb-20	71.4	53.7	34.9	10.0	25.4	2.9	2.1	4.9	205.1	202.6
May-20	33.4	24.3	22.9	5.2	15.4	*1.6	1.3	2.5	106.5	111.4
Aug-20	55.0	40.6	39.2	10.6	30.2	2.8	3.6	3.7	185.7	184.0
Nov-20	74.4	52.8	44.0	13.3	35.0	4.4	3.5	6.0	233.3	228.4
Feb-21	85.9	59.5	49.1	17.3	36.8	5.1	3.8	6.0	263.5	260.3

Change from previous quarter (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	10.4	-1.8	0.5	-0.5	-3.9	-3.3	-18.4	3.4	2.2	1.0
Feb-20	-1.1	-2.2	-1.8	5.6	7.9	-0.6	-31.1	-6.2	-0.7	0.1
May-20	-53.2	-54.8	-34.3	-48.1	-39.2	-46.6	-39.0	-48.8	-48.1	-45.0
Aug-20	64.5	67.4	71.1	104.7	95.7	82.0	186.8	46.2	74.3	65.2
Nov-20	35.4	30.0	12.1	25.2	16.1	53.2	-2.9	62.1	25.6	24.1
Feb-21	15.4	12.6	11.7	30.2	5.0	17.8	8.7	0.7	12.9	14.0

Change from corresponding quarter of previous year (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Feb-19	10.3	10.8	0.8	-16.3	30.1	-0.5	2.3	12.5	9.3	9.4
Feb-20	-7.7	-8.8	3.2	27.2	-1.9	19.2	-34.6	2.3	-4.2	-4.1
Feb-21	20.4	10.8	41.0	73.4	45.0	75.4	84.5	22.1	28.5	28.5

All figures are original unless stated otherwise
Trend figures are not currently available
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution

Public sector, states and territories

Job vacancies ('000), public sector - states and territories
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	8.0	5.2	3.6	1.9	2.2	0.7	0.5	2.5	24.7	24.4
Feb-20	7.9	6.0	3.5	1.7	2.2	0.5	0.8	1.7	24.4	25.2
May-20	6.3	4.4	2.3	1.6	*1.4	0.3	0.5	1.0	17.9	17.9
Aug-20	7.2	5.1	2.9	1.8	2.0	0.6	*0.6	1.9	22.3	21.9
Nov-20	8.2	5.6	3.9	2.2	2.4	0.8	*0.8	1.9	25.8	25.6
Feb-21	8.1	6.2	4.4	2.0	3.2	0.5	*1.0	2.1	27.5	28.4

Change from previous quarter (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Nov-19	7.3	-0.8	-2.9	5.1	14.0	12.6	-25.4	-0.8	2.7	3.5
Feb-20	-1.0	14.4	-3.6	-12.1	0.3	-27.7	63.0	-30.0	-1.2	3.3
May-20	-20.2	-26.1	-34.3	-2.7	-37.1	-40.8	-41.5	-38.8	-26.5	-28.9
Aug-20	14.0	16.1	26.4	14.3	43.8	99.1	37.8	83.5	24.6	22.0
Nov-20	13.9	8.5	34.7	21.2	17.9	36.3	16.7	-1.2	15.7	16.9
Feb-21	-2.1	10.7	12.1	-11.5	33.4	-31.7	33.4	12.5	6.5	11.1

Change from corresponding quarter of previous year (%)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia	Australia (Seasonally Adjusted)
Feb-19	4.5	0.6	-0.2	45.2	19.7	4.6	-1.8	27.8	7.6	7.8
Feb-20	19.5	13.9	26.8	11.3	39.9	-3.9	68.3	-5.8	18.3	18.2
Feb-21	1.4	3.0	25.4	19.2	42.3	9.9	25.4	24.8	12.8	12.8

All figures are original unless stated otherwise
Trend figures are not currently available
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution

Industry

Job vacancies ('000), industry
	Nov-19	Feb-20	May-20	Aug-20	Nov-20	Feb-21
Mining	6.2	6.5	4.3	5.6	6.3	7.5
Manufacturing	10.9	12.2	7.0	13.5	15.3	16.6
Electricity, gas, water and waste services	1.8	2.1	1.6	1.9	2.2	2.7
Construction	16.6	16.6	8.3	15.9	17.9	26.7
Wholesale trade	11.8	12.6	6.5	9.9	13.4	14.0
Retail trade	24.8	18.9	11.4	18.5	25.7	24.9
Accommodation and food services	14.5	14.7	*5.0	13.5	22.4	27.6
Transport, postal and warehousing	7.1	7.5	3.3	5.5	6.6	9.3
Information media and telecommunications	3.3	3.4	2.0	2.4	2.7	3.8
Financial and insurance services	11.0	11.9	7.8	12.3	12.8	14.7
Rental, hiring and real estate services	2.7	3.2	*1.0	*3.6	4.4	4.6
Professional, scientific and technical services	23.7	26.3	13.1	23.5	27.0	31.2
Administrative and support services	34.5	31.2	17.5	24.2	26.8	28.6
Public administration and safety	12.9	13.3	8.6	13.4	16.7	15.0
Education and training	7.3	7.7	3.6	6.4	6.7	8.5
Health care and social assistance	28.0	29.8	19.7	28.4	37.7	39.1
Arts and recreation services	2.8	2.0	**0.1	1.2	4.0	2.6
Other services	11.4	9.4	*3.6	8.3	10.6	13.6

All figures are original
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use

Downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Table 1. Job vacancies, state and territories ('000)
Download xls [323 KB]
Table 2. Job vacancies, private sector, state and territories ('000)
Download xls [452.5 KB]
Table 3. Job vacancies, public sector, state and territories ('000)
Download xls [296.5 KB]
Table 4. Job vacancies, industry, Australia ('000) - original
Download xls [158.5 KB]
All time series
Download zip [282.96 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6354.0.

Methodology

Job Vacancies, Australia methodology, February 2021

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APA

Citation

Job Vacancies, Australia

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Survey Impacts

Continued suspension of trend estimates

Survey responses remain high in February

Comparing job vacancies with other measures of labour demand

COVID-19 impacts on job vacancies

States and territories

Private sector, states and territories

Public sector, states and territories

Industry

Downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Table 1. Job vacancies, state and territories ('000)

Table 2. Job vacancies, private sector, state and territories ('000)

Table 3. Job vacancies, public sector, state and territories ('000)

Table 4. Job vacancies, industry, Australia ('000) - original

All time series

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder

Provide feedback

APA

Job Vacancies, Australia

APA

Key statistics

Survey Impacts

Continued suspension of trend estimates

Survey responses remain high in February

Comparing job vacancies with other measures of labour demand

COVID-19 impacts on job vacancies

States and territories

Private sector, states and territories

Public sector, states and territories

Industry

Downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Table 1. Job vacancies, state and territories ('000)

Table 2. Job vacancies, private sector, state and territories ('000)

Table 3. Job vacancies, public sector, state and territories ('000)

Table 4. Job vacancies, industry, Australia ('000) - original

All time series

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Job vacancies continue to rise

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder