Vacancies on the rise

JOB vacancies are continuing to rise, lifting 5.7 per cent between February and May, with growth in both the private and public sectors.

Employers in May advertised 236,000 positions, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Vacancies in the private sector jumped by 5.7 per cent from February, to 215,400, while public sector vacancies increased 5.1 per cent from the previous quarter, to 20,600.

There were rises in sectors such as administrative and support services and construction but a drop off in the retail trade and accommodation and food services sectors vacancies, according to non-seasonally adjusted figures. South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia had the biggest increases in jobs vacancies in non-seasonally adjusted terms, while Tasmania and Queensland experienced the sharpest declines, with 16.6 and 10.7 per cent falls, respectively.