Job mobility in Australia has continued to ease into 2025, with just under 8% of employed people changing jobs in the year to February – down from 8.0% in 2024 and well below the 9.6% peak seen in February 2023, according to the latest ABS figures.
“This was a small decrease from the year to February 2024,” Sean Crick (pictured), ABS head of labour statistics, said in a media release. “This follows a rise in job mobility over the COVID period, where the job mobility rate increased to 9.6 per cent in February 2023.”
The ACT recorded the highest mobility rate (11%), followed by Queensland (9%). Younger workers continued to drive turnover, with those aged 15 to 24 showing a mobility rate around 12%, compared to just 1% for workers aged 65 and over.
Crick noted that “almost two-thirds (62%)” of those who changed jobs stayed in the same occupation.
“Professionals were more likely than other occupations to stay in the same occupation... In contrast, only around half of sales workers who changed jobs stayed as sales workers,” he said.
The annual retrenchment rate rose slightly from 1.7% to 1.9%, while 1.7 million Australians were identified as “potential workers” – those not currently employed but wanting to work. Of those, 1.1 million were available to start immediately, and 600,000 were classified as unemployed.
Among this group, over 596,000 people were willing to work but not actively job-seeking – often due to study, childcare, or health constraints.
In May 2025, 1.5 million workers were classified as underemployed, with 1.3 million expressing a desire for more hours. The headcount underemployment ratio was 10.4%, although the hours-based measure was lower at 3.4%.
Part-time underemployment declined slightly year-on-year, from 889,000 to 818,900, yet still made up 19% of the part-time workforce. Of these workers, 46% preferred to shift to full-time hours.
Men aged 25-44 were most likely to prefer full-time work, while older women were least likely to seek more hours.
About 190,000 part-time workers had experienced a year or more of insufficient hours. Just under half (43%) of underemployed part-time workers had taken active steps to look for more work, such as answering job ads or contacting employers directly.
Flexibility remained limited: 9% of workers were open to moving interstate for a better opportunity, and 11% would relocate within their current state or territory.
For more data, access these ABS reports: "Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia", "Potential workers", and "Underemployed workers".
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