Australian job market starts 2021 in a very strong position

By Nick Hurley
January 13th 2021


Australian job market starts 2021 in a very strong position.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released job market data today confirming the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and reopening of the economy late last year underpinned a 23 per cent rise in job vacancies in the three months ending on November 30.

The sectors that saw the biggest increases in demand for talent were, unsurprisingly, those most impacted by lockdowns – arts and recreation services, accommodation and food services, and retail trade.

The jobs boom has not been confined to the private sector, however, since government job vacancies are also up – by 17 per cent.

In addition, a surge in unfilled positions has brought overall vacancies to a level higher than the last pre-COVID reading in February 2020. “The number of unfilled available positions rose by 48,000 in September-November, after a sharp rise of 77,000 roles in August, as COVID-related restrictions were further relaxed across Australia”, said Bjorn Jarvis, ABS’s Head of Labour Statistics.

“There were 254,000 job vacancies in November, which was higher than the pre-COVID level in February,” he said. “This reflected the pace of recovery in labour demand in the second half of the year and labour shortages in some industries.”

This set of very bullish, trailing job-market data aligns closely with the ANZ Australian Job Ads’ reading from last week which revealed job ads surged 9.2 per cent in December to rise above pre-pandemic levels. More than 159,000 vacant positions were advertised in December – the highest reading since July 2019. This figure is also 4.1 per cent higher than for February last year and is up 5 per cent year on year, making it the first annual increase in two years.

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