There was a 2.9 per cent lift in job vacancies across Australia in May to 339,4000.
This is according to new quarterly figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which show the recent rise in the three months to May followed a fall in the three months to February 2025.
“The rise in job vacancies was driven by industries with a high proportion of skilled workers, including professional, scientific and technical services, and construction,” ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said
“Compared with May 2024, the number of job vacancies in May 2025 was down by 9,600, or 2.8 per cent. This was the smallest annual fall in job vacancies in the last two years.
“Over the year, the number of unemployed people for each job vacancy grew from 1.7 to 1.8. This is well below the pre-pandemic level of 3.1 in February 2020, indicating there is still high labour demand.”
The figures also show that vacancies across retail have hit their lowest point since February 2021, topping 25,300 across the sector. The sector with the largest amount of vacancies is health care, with 55,200 vacancies, down from 59,100.
The number of job vacancies rose in eight of the 18 industries in the three months to May 2025. The largest percentage rises were in Construction (up 20.6 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (up 12.6 per cent). The largest falls were in wholesale trade (down 13.3 per cent) and electricity, gas, water and waste services (down 12.6 per cent).
Compared with a year ago, job vacancies fell in 10 industries, with the largest drops in electricity, gas, water and waste services (down 24.3 per cent) and other services (down 13.2 per cent). The highest percentage growth in job vacancies over the year was in transport, postal and warehousing (up 23.3 per cent) and manufacturing (up 20.0 per cent).
Retail vacancies fell 10.9 per cent between the May quarter of 2024 to the May quarter of 2025.
The growth in job vacancies over the quarter to May 2025 was driven by rises in both the private (up 3.2 per cent) and public sectors (up 0.6 per cent).
Job vacancies also rose in most states and territories. The largest percentage rises were in the Australian Capital Territory (up 11.6 per cent) and South Australia (up 9.0 per cent). The largest percentage drops were in the Northern Territory (down 12.2 per cent) and Western Australia (down 6.3 per cent).