Job vacancies in Australia fell slightly by 0.2% in the three months to November 2025, according to new quarterly figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with the decline largely driven by the private sector.
There were 326,700 job vacancies in November, roughly the same as at the start of the year in February, said Robert Long, ABS head of labour statistics.
Over the year to November 2025, vacancies dropped by 17,800, a fall of 5.2%. Private sector vacancies fell 6.8%, while public sector vacancies increased by 8.9% over the same period.
Vacancies fell in seven of the 18 industries in the three months to November 2025, led by education and training, down 15.5%, and rental, hiring and real estate services, down 12.8%.
The largest increases were in other services, up 19%, and wholesale trade, up 13.6%.
Compared with a year ago, 12 industries saw fewer vacancies, with arts and recreation services recording the biggest drop of 27.7%, while manufacturing saw the largest annual rise at 33.1%.
Regionally, job vacancies declined in five of the eight states and territories over the quarter.
The Northern Territory led the fall with an 11.3% drop, followed by South Australia at 6.6%. Victoria recorded the largest quarterly rise at 7.0 per cent, followed by Western Australia at 6.5%.