Rise in job vacancies revealed

THE number of job vacancies has risen to the highest level since May 2012.

Vacancies rose by 7700, or 5 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, between May and August, according to quarterly survey data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released yesterday.

The number of vacancies counted in August was 177,300, the highest since May 2012.

It was still 13,800 below the recent high of 191,100 reached in late 2010 amid the economic stimulus measures following the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008.

But it was well above the low of 138,900 seen three years later as the growth-boosting measures were wound back.

By industry, government-dominated public administration, education, health care and social assistance sectors contributed the bulk of the rise.