New data shows more jobs filled in February but vacancies still high

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released new data on job vacancy rates and preschool enrolment figures.

New data shows more employment positions were filled in February; however, the nation’s job vacancy rate remains relatively high.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Job Vacancies report, released on Thursday, showed job vacancies were down 1 per cent between November and February, with 439,000 positions yet to be filled in February.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said while that was also down 9 per cent from a peak in May 2022, the vacancy rate still remained high.

“Job vacancies in February 2023 were still nearly double what they were three years ago, just before the start of the pandemic,” he said.

“There is still a very high demand for labour from employers across Australia and across all industries.”

Job vacancies are still relatively high compared with the May 2020 quarter.

The figures show similar vacancy rate drops in both the public and private sectors, the third consecutive quarter drop.

Western Australia recorded the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies, down 15 per cent, while NSW recorded the largest percentage quarterly growth, up 9 per cent.

“While there have been some recent falls in job vacancies in some states and territories, they continue to be high in all states and territories,” Mr Jarvis said.

Job vacancies fell in 11 of the 18 industries recorded but remained high across most industries when compared with February 2020 – the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The job vacancy rate by industry compared with February 2020, the start of the Covid pandemic.

“This continued to be most acute in the accommodation and food services and arts and recreation services industries, where vacancies were around three to four times what they were before the pandemic,” said Mr Jarvis.

The ABS’ Labour Force report for February, released earlier in March, showed a drop in unemployment to 3.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted.

Also released on Thursday was the ABS report on preschool education figures for 2022, showing enrolment for four or five-year-olds in a preschool program was down 1.3 per cent compared with 2021.

However, there was also a 2.7 per cent increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids of the same age enrolled in preschool in 2022 compared with the previous year.

More than 95 per cent of the 334,440 children enrolled in a preschool program in 2022 were enrolled for 15 hours or more per week.