Australia’s job market recorded a 3.6% increase in online job ads last month (seasonally adjusted). Advertisements increased across all major occupation groups, with Sales Workers, and Labourers seeing the strongest increase. New South Wales experienced the strongest increase in job ads.
Job ads were down 0.9% over the past year. The drop was more pronounced in capital cities than in regional areas.
Spotlight on Northern Australia: Strong demand and strong resilience
For more than a decade, the Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) has supported analysis of labour demand outside major cities by providing online job advertisement data covering regional Australia. Continuing this commitment, IVI data using the JSA Remoteness and Northern Australia geographic classifications were released in late 2025.
The Northern Australia classification provides a lens on structural dynamics across an interconnected set of regions that show internal differentiation, rather than a collection of small, volatile labour markets. This system exhibits labour demand features that differ from metropolitan Australia. High-level occupation groupings reveal compositional differences between labour demand in Northern Australia and Major Cities. Regional labour markets underpin Australia’s economic and social wellbeing. Their unique challenges and opportunities can be supported by more comprehensive, frequent and useful data on regional workforce and skills needs.
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If you have any questions, please email JSA-Nowcasting@jobsandskills.gov.au.
