“Encouragingly, industries hardest hit by the pandemic and restrictions are now seeing extraordinarily high numbers of vacancies compared with pre-pandemic levels, signalling that activity and employment in those sectors are recovering quickly,” ANZ wrote in a note.
Total vacancies rose to 254,400 in November, up from 206,100 in August.
Victoria was the only state to record vacancies below their pre-pandemic level, but as this survey was conducted in mid-November, the state was still in the process of reopening.
Callam Pickering, APAC economist at global job site Indeed said rising job vacancies usually precedes stronger employment growth and that suggests that the Australian labour market will continue to strengthen in early 2021.
“Momentum though is likely to slow as fiscal support measures, most notably JobKeeper and JobSeeker, are removed,” Mr Pickering said.
“While the improvement in job vacancies is welcome, we shouldn’t lose sight of the big picture: the odds are stacked against the unemployed.
“The number of unemployed people per job vacancy is still 20 per cent higher than pre-crisis levels and that makes the decision to completely wind back unemployment support shortsighted.”
“Australia’s unemployed face a very simple but devastating reality. There are not enough jobs. No matter how many jobs they apply for or how diligent they are, most will simply miss out.”
Read More: www.smh.com.au
