AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Highlights
- Job vacancies decline 9.8% in May-August 2021
- COVID-19 adversely impacted the job market in Australia
- Vacancies still 46% more than the pre pandemic levels
Job vacancies in Australia have seen a 9.8% decline in the three-month period between May and August 2021, as some of the major cities in the country were placed under lockdowns to battle the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the latest data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), job vacancies stood at 333,700 across the country, down 9.8% or 36,200 vacancies on a sequential basis.
“The fall in job vacancies in August 2021 coincided with lockdowns in place in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, and followed lockdowns in Queensland and South Australia. It was the first drop in vacancies since May 2020, during the initial wave of COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions,” according to Bjorn Jarvis, Head of Labour Statistics at the ABS.
However, despite this reduction in the numbers, vacancies are 16% higher than they were six months ago, and 46% higher than they were before the onset of pandemic in March 2020.
The number of businesses reporting at least one vacancy also shows the extent to which labour demand took a hit in May 2020, the ABS said.
In May 2020, a much lower proportion of businesses reported at least one vacancy (6.5%). By May 2021, this had increased to 22.0% of businesses. For August 2021, this number declined to 20.3% but remained higher than February 2020 (11.0%), which was prior to the impact of COVID-19.
The three consecutive months of lockdown in Australian economic powerhouses – Sydney and Melbourne – have crippled the Australian economy. It has raised fears of yet another recession in the country within just two years, back to back.
