Why did total employment listings decrease across the country?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that national job vacancies fell by 2.1% due to contracting labor demand across both the public and private sectors.

What are the specific sector vacancy numbers for this quarter?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows private sector vacancies decreased by 1.4%, which represents a loss of 4,000 available roles.

How did different industry sectors perform during this period?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics noted that the financial and insurance services industry had the largest quarterly contraction with a 21.4% drop, followed by accommodation and food services down 16.1%.

What does this downturn mean for the broader economic timeline?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS:STATS) figures show this 2.1 per cent drop is the first quarterly decline in available positions recorded since August 2025. This ends a multi-quarter streak of continuous vacancy growth for the national economy.

What geographic impact was recorded across the country?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS:STATS) reported a widespread contraction, with job vacancies falling in seven out of eight states and territories. Victoria led the downturn with an 8% decrease and South Australia fell 6.5%, while Tasmania was the sole outlier with a 1.4% rise.

Economy

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Australian job vacancies fall to 329,500 in three months to May

Written by Heidi Cuthbert Published Jun 25, 2026, 2:07 AM

Australian job vacancies fell by 2.1% in the three months to May.
The total number of available roles declined to 329,500 due to widespread drops across multiple industries.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics attributed the decrease to contracting demand in both the public and private sectors.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that national job vacancies fell by 2.1% to 329,500 positions in the three months to May.

This contraction marks the first quarterly decline in available roles since August 2025.

"Job vacancies fell by 2.1% in the three months to May, the first drop in vacancies since August 2025," said ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick.

The financial and insurance services industry recorded the largest quarterly contraction at 21.4%, whilst manufacturing vacancies rose by 16.9%.

The vacancy contraction was geographically widespread, with seven out of eight states and territories recording decreases.

Private sector vacancies decreased by 1.4% to represent a loss of 4,000 available roles.

Public sector vacancies dropped by 7.9% over the quarter to represent a loss of 3,000 positions.