Arts, hospitality grow as vacancies top jobless

More jobs are available in Western Australia than the number of people looking for work, as strong demand continues to propel economies.

Almost 62,000 vacancies were open in WA in November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

That’s higher than the 54,000 looking for work in the same month.

The numbers come today as inflation returned to its 7.3 per cent in November, according to the ABS.

The low unemployment, high vacancies, and rising inflation follow record stimulus by the central bank and governments as the country navigated the pandemic.

Nationally, 444,000 jobs were open, down 4.9 per cent from August.

The biggest increases since the start of the pandemic were in arts and recreation, and accommodation and food services.

ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said national vacancies were still higher in November than in the same month of 2021, and were nearly double the level before the pandemic. 

The bureau also said the percentage of businesses reporting at least one vacancy had lifted, too.

“While the number of vacancies has begun to fall over the past six months, we are continuing to see a greater share of businesses reporting at least one vacancy. 

“It was 28 per cent of businesses in November 2022, a slight increase from August 2022 [27 per cent] and more than double what it was in February 2020 [11 per cent],” Mr Jarvis said.

“These figures continue to show the high demand for workers across many businesses and all industries, in a tight labour market.”