WA job ads continue to increase

Job advertisements in Western Australia were up 1 per cent in August, while vacancies on the east coast fell sharply.

Preliminary data from the National Skills Commission showed skilled job vacancies fell by 5.6 per cent nationwide to 216,031 available positions in August.

It was the third month of decline, according to analysis from CommSec, after national job advertisements reached a 12.5 year high in May.

The National Skills Commission said the sharpest decline in recruitment activity over the month was recorded in states with COVID-19 lockdowns in place.

Job advertisements in New South Wales were down 9.2 per cent, followed by the ACT (down 9 per cent) and in Victoria where job ads fell 5.9 per cent.

States without lockdowns avoided a slump with job advertisements increasing in the Northern Territory and South Australia by 2.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.

The number of job advertisements nationally remains significantly higher than before the pandemic in February 2020, up 28.4 per cent.

Job advertisements in WA showed the strongest gains, up 66.9 per cent when compared to February 2020.

Tasmania (64.4 per cent) and South Australia (61.5 per cent) also had a large increase in job advertisements during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data today which found 6.5 per cent of Australians were working multiple jobs, the highest number in 27 years.