Employers' ability to fill skilled vacancies fell in June 2023 quarter, based on Jobs and Skills Australia’s new Skills Shortage Quarterly (SSQ) report.
The national fill rate for skilled occupations in Professionals, Technician and Trades Workers and Community and Personal Service Workers – occupations that generally require advanced post-school qualifications (e.g. a Bachelor degree or Certificate III/IV) – was 59% in the June 2023 quarter. This was down from 63% in the March 2023 quarter.
- The recent decrease in the fill rate is consistent with elevated employer recruitment difficulty rates (as measured by JSA’s Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey), and a low unemployment rate (published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics).
Although there was an increase in the average number of applicants per vacancy this quarter, up by 2.9 to 17.0, the number of suitable applicants per vacancy was mostly unchanged.
The latest results imply that skill shortage pressures, stemming from ongoing tight labour markets still persist.
The June 2023 quarter edition of the SSQ also presents a spotlight piece examining employer behaviour in periods of labour market tightness, using the mining boom and the current period as examples. The analysis shows that during ‘softer’ labour market conditions, with a greater pool of suitable applicants per vacancy and lower demand for skilled workers, employers fill vacancies with more ease. In tighter conditions, however, competition among employers is increased, particularly evident in the current climate.
The SSQ is a new report presenting quarterly analysis on occupation shortage pressures, drawing on data from JSA’s Survey of Employers who Recently Advertised (SERA). The June 2023 SSQ report is the second edition and complements findings presented in JSA’s quarterly Labour Market Update report, the monthly Internet Vacancy Index update and the monthly Recruitment Insights report.
