Regional Labour Demand
Regional job vacancies remained steady at 81,000 in January 2023 with a 0.3 per cent decrease on December 2022. This bucked ordinary seasonal hiring patterns (advertised job vacancies tend to dip in January, and generally in the order of 3-5 per cent). This profile of regional job vacancies contrasts with the situation in metro Australia, where job ads decreased by 2.2 per cent from the last month. The latest number of regional job ads is still 11.2 per cent more than a year earlier – demand for labour in regions is still very high.
In contrast to last month, when all regions experienced a decline in job vacancies, more than half of the regions saw an increase in job vacancies during the January. The top growth spots are scattered around South Australia, Tasmania, and New South Wales.
Latest advertised vacancies are well in excess of what was being advertised a year earlier in all regions but one. The annual growth in vacancies in the various regions are diverse, ranging from 1.1 per cent to around 30 per cent.
Regional Australia job vacancies
Source: National Skills Commission, Regional Australia Institute
The five regions that recorded the largest monthly increases in vacancies in January 2023 were:
- Port Augusta & Eyre Peninsula up by 7.6% (625 compared to 581)
- Launceston and Northeast Tasmania up by 4.2% (869 compared to 835)
- Tamworth and North West NSW up by 3.1% (1,394 compared to 1,351)
- North West Tasmania up by 2.8% (669 compared to 651)
- Riverina & Murray up by 2.4% (2,262 compared to 2,209)
The five regions with the biggest jumps in vacancies in January 2023 compared with January 2022 were:
- Port Augusta & Eyre Peninsula up by 28.3%
- Central Queensland up by 28.0%
- Tamworth and North West NSW up by 24.0%
- Blue Mountains, Bathurst & Central West NSW up by 23.7%
- Toowoomba and South West QLD up by 23.1%
In terms of the occupations being demanded, vacancies are largest for Professional roles (27%) of all vacancies in January, followed by Technicians and Trades roles (16%), Community and Personal Service roles (13%) and Clerical and Administrative Workers roles (13%).
SOURCES The Internet Vacancy Index is updated monthly by the Department of Education Skills, Employment and Business (https://labourmarketinsights.gov.au/our-research/internet-vacancy-index/). The RAI has an interactive Regional Job Vacancy map of the data showing vacancies in 37 regions across Australia (regionalaustralia.org.au/home/regional-jobs-vacancy-map).