Construction and retail drive gains
Australia’s job vacancies recorded a modest increase in the first quarter of 2026, rising by 8,900 (2.7%) between November and February to reach 338,000.
The result came in slightly below Westpac’s expectations, although the Q4 2025 figure was revised upward to 329,000 from a previously reported 327,000.
Westpac economist Luka Belobrajdic said the outcome was “broadly consistent with the recent strengthening evident in monthly partials from other job vacancy and advertisement data".
Despite the quarterly rise, vacancies remained well within the range recorded over the past year. The Q1 figure was the strongest since Q4 2024 and left vacancies about 40% above pre-pandemic levels.
Private sector leads
The divergence between sectors was a defining feature of the quarter. Private sector vacancies, which account for about 88% of the total, rose 3.2%, while public sector vacancies edged lower by 0.5%.
At the industry level, construction recorded the largest increase in both level and percentage terms, with vacancies climbing by 19%. Retail trade followed with a rise of 10%, which Belobrajdic linked to “firmer consumer conditions ahead of the escalation in Middle East conflict.”
Professional, scientific and technical services were up by 7.7%, while administrative and support services declined by 5.6%.
Public sector softness was broad-based. Public administration and safety vacancies fell by 3.0%, while health care and social assistance recorded the steepest decline of any industry, dropping by 13%. Belobrajdic attributed the fall to the “care economy” pulling back “significantly after a monumental hiring effort over recent years.”
Labour market gradually softening
The vacancy-to-unemployment ratio – a key measure of labour market slack – edged higher to 0.51 in February 2026 from 0.50 in November 2025, driven by an unexpected moderation in unemployment over the December–January period. However, the ratio remained below the 0.53 recorded in the same period last year, reinforcing what Westpac described as a labour market that “continues to gradually soften.”
The ratio still sits well above the 0.20–0.35 range that prevailed before the pandemic, a period the report characterised by greater labour market slack and below-target inflation.
Belobrajdic said that mapping the latest quarter on the Beveridge curve, which illustrates the relationship between the vacancy rate and the unemployment rate, showed the labour market “operating more-or-less around” the curve, suggesting the relationship between vacancies and unemployment “continues to behave broadly as expected.”
