Financial services vacancies lower than pre-pandemic

Financial and insurance services has seen the largest drop in job vacancies in the past quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The sector fell by 15 per cent in the three months to August – the ABS said this makes it the only industry out of 18 surveyed to have vacancies lower than they were in February 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Just 7.5 per cent of businesses in this sector were reporting vacancies at the end of August compared to 34.8 per cent of firms in public administration and safety, and 31.8 per cent in the accommodation and food services sector. 

The most vacancies seen in financial services and insurance was in November 2022 where 21.7 per cent had vacancies, but it has declined steeply since then. 

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Since February 2020, there has been a - 5.2 per cent change in the number of job vacancies, the only sector to report a negative result. 

On the other hand, companies in the arts and recreation services had seen a 265 per cent rise in job vacancies after many employees lost their jobs or changed occupation as a result of being furloughed during the pandemic. 

Across all sectors, the ABS said the number of job vacancies fell by around 9 per cent between May and August. 

Kate Lamb, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “Demand for workers eased again in August for the fifth straight quarter. This coincided with an increase in the unemployment rate over the three months to August.

“While these indicators are no longer at historical levels, both are still showing that the labour market is tighter than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Job vacancies were still around 72 per cent higher than they were in February 2020. That’s still around 160,000 more jobs that employers are looking for people to fill, as part of a pool of almost 400,000 vacancies.

“The percentage of businesses reporting at least one vacancy also fell from 25 per cent in May to 22 per cent in August. However, this was still double what it was in February 2020 at 11 per cent.”

Saxon Davidson, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said: “Australia’s persistent worker shortage crisis is a handbrake on vital economic growth with job vacancy levels remaining almost twice that of three years ago.

“While it is encouraging that job vacancies have reduced slightly, the job vacancy level still remains 72 per cent above the pre-COVID mark from February 2020.”