In April 2019, there were around 43,612 job vacancies advertised across regional Australia. This is a decrease from the 46,250 job vacancies advertised in March 2019.
In some metropolitan media outlets, the drop in figures caused a little hype, with some asking the question – Have the wheels fallen off?
The answer is no. This is consistent with yearly seasonal trends that show an increase in vacancies between February and March before decreasing during March to April.
Vacancy growth is higher in regional Australia than in our capital cities, when comparing vacancy data from April 2017 and April 2019 (10% compared to 5%).
| Apr-17 |
Apr-19 |
% change between
Apr-17 and Apr-19 |
| Regional Australia |
39780 |
43612 |
10% |
| Regional NSW (excludes Sydney) |
10945 |
11813 |
8% |
| Regional VIC (excludes Melbourne) |
5092 |
5761 |
13% |
| Regional QLD (excludes Brisbane) |
11727 |
12468 |
6% |
| Regional SA (excludes Adelaide) |
907 |
870 |
-4% |
| TAS |
1508 |
1845 |
22% |
| Regional WA (excludes Perth) |
2781 |
3507 |
26% |
| NT |
1727 |
1713 |
-1% |
| ACT |
5095 |
5636 |
11% |
The five regions with the greatest growth rate in vacancies from April 2017 to April 2019 are:
- Launceston and Northeast Tasmania has the highest percentage increase of 41%;
- South West WA saw an increase of 38%;
- followed closely by Riverina and Murrray which increased by 34%;
- Outback Queensland increased by 30%; and
- Pilbara and Kimberley as well as Dubbo and Western NSW each increased by 29%.
Most vacancies are in professional medical and engineering jobs, and in automotive and engineering trade jobs.
The information regarding job vacancies around the country is sourced from the Federal Government’s Labour Market Information Portal.
The RAI’s Regional Job Vacancy map is also available on this site, as well as on our own website: rai.imiscloud.com/Web/Toolkits-Indexes/Regional-Jobs-Vacancy-Map