Australia job vacancies climb to record in November quarter

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Job vacancies in Australia climbed to their highest on record in the three months to November, a sixth straight quarter of solid gains that augured well for continued growth in hiring.

Total job vacancies rose 2.7 percent to 210,300 seasonally adjusted in the Sept-Nov quarter, from 204,800 in the previous quarter, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

That was the highest reading since the series began in 1979 and left vacancies a healthy 16 percent higher than a year earlier.

Vacancies in the private sector climbed 3.8 percent to 192,000, again the highest on record. That was up 17.3 percent on the previous year.

In contrast, public sector vacancies fell back 7.6 percent in the November quarter to 18,300.

Analysts value the vacancies series as it has proved a reliable leading indicator of labor demand and turning points in employment growth.

The strength in vacancies supports official figures for employment which showed a surge in hiring last year, driving the jobless rate down to 5.4 percent.

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