Australia’s job vacancies were little changed in the three months to November 2025, pointing to a labour market that is cooling gradually rather than sharply.
Seasonally adjusted ABS figures show total job vacancies at 326,700 in November, down just 0.2% (around 700 roles) from August. Private‑sector vacancies fell 0.5% to 287,400, while public‑sector vacancies rose 1.8% to 39,300.
Westpac economist Ryan Wells said vacancy levels have largely plateaued over the past year.
“Over 2025, job vacancies have been broadly steady: 327k in Q1, lifting to 336k in Q2, before returning back to 327k in Q3 and holding at this level in Q4. This is around 40% higher than pre-pandemic levels,” Wells said in a Westpac commentary.
That leaves vacancies roughly one‑third below their May 2022 peak, but still well above pre‑COVID norms.
Wells noted that while vacancies have steadied, the unemployment rate has been “gradually ticking higher”, easing some of the heat from the jobs market.
“As a result, the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio – a key metric that provides a better perspective on the degree of ‘slack’ in the labour market – has continued to moderate, from 0.58 in Nov-24 to 0.49 in Nov-25, confirming that the labour market is indeed gradually softening," he said.
"This is still higher than the 0.20-0.35 range that prevailed prior to the pandemic, although this was a period characterised by a greater degree of labour market slack and below-target inflation.”
Wells added that “overall, the labour market is operating more-or-less around the Beveridge curve, suggesting the relationship with between vacancies and unemployment is behaving broadly as expected.”
At the same time, CBA data show Australia’s labour market “holding up strongly” with wages steady and unemployment still low, even as hiring slows and markets brace for possible Reserve Bank rate rises in 2026, highlighting the tension between resilient jobs and the RBA’s inflation challenge.
On Westpac’s forecasts, an unemployment rate of around 4.6% by year-end would see the vacancy rate ease from about 2.1% to roughly 1.8%.
A clear split remains between private and public employers.
“The stark contrast between private sector and public sector vacancies remains a key dynamic,” Wells said.
“Vacancies in the private sector (88% of total) fell by –1.4k (–0.5%) in Q4 and is down by –21.1k (–6.8%) over 2025. Meanwhile, in the public sector (12% of total), vacancies rose by 0.7k (+1.8%) in Q4 and is up +3.3k (+9.2%) over 2025.”
Within the public sector, “the uptrend in public sector vacancies is clearly driven by public administration and safety, where vacancies have risen by 2.7k (+13.2%) over the past year.” By contrast, vacancies in health care and social assistance have fallen as jobs growth in that sector has slowed.
In the private sector, conditions vary by industry. Wells said many areas “have returned back or are very close to pre-pandemic ranges, including construction, retail and wholesale trade and administrative and support services,” but some sectors “remain at a multiple of the pre-pandemic average. This includes accommodation and food, one of the larger industries where jobs growth has staged a clearer recovery and vacancies have stabilised at 2.4 times the pre-pandemic average.”
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