Australia’s labour market remains resilient heading into October, although the latest data points to a more balanced and considered hiring environment.
As of October 2026, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force data relates to August. Employment increased by 39,500 people to 14.84 million, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% and workforce participation increased to 67.1%.
Other indicators show that employers are still actively recruiting. Australia had approximately 325,000 job vacancies in August, while Jobs and Skills Australia recorded 212,400 online job advertisements, around 25% above the monthly average recorded in 2019. Half of employers surveyed by Jobs and Skills Australia had recruited recently, although hiring difficulty remains significant for many organisations.
For employers, this means talent may be becoming more accessible in some areas, but specialist and high-performing candidates can still be difficult to secure.
For job seekers, opportunities remain available, although businesses are becoming increasingly deliberate about the skills, experience and value they expect from a new hire.
Labour market indicator | Latest result | Change | Reference period |
|---|---|---|---|
Total employment | 14.84 million | +39,500 people | August 2026 |
Full-time employment | 10.19 million | −6,300 people | August 2026 |
Part-time employment | 4.64 million | +45,800 people | August 2026 |
Unemployment rate | 4.6% | +0.2 percentage points | August 2026 |
Participation rate | 67.1% | +0.2 percentage points | August 2026 |
Employment-to-population ratio | 63.9% | +0.1 percentage points | August 2026 |
Underemployment rate | 6.2% | −0.1 percentage points | August 2026 |
Monthly hours worked | 2.009 billion | +0.7% | August 2026 |
Job vacancies | 325,000 | −0.9% quarterly | August 2026 |
Online job advertisements | 212,400 | +0.3% monthly | August 2026 |
Employers recruiting | 50% | +6 percentage points monthly | August 2026 |
Recruitment difficulty | 45% | +2 percentage points monthly | August 2026 |
Employers expecting to increase staff | 20% | +3 percentage points monthly | August 2026 |
Annual job mobility rate | 7.2% | Down from 7.7% | February 2026 |
Annual wage growth | 3.2% | Down from 3.4% a year earlier | June quarter 2026 |
The figures above come from several ABS and Jobs and Skills Australia releases with different reference periods. They should be considered together as indicators of labour-market conditions rather than treated as directly comparable measures.
Australian employment increased by 39,500 people in August, bringing total employment to approximately 14.84 million.
Part-time employment accounted for the increase, rising by 45,800 people to approximately 4.64 million, while full-time employment decreased by 6,300 to approximately 10.19 million.
Over the year, seasonally adjusted employment increased by approximately 238,100 people, equivalent to growth of 1.6%.
The less volatile trend measure also remained positive, with employment increasing by approximately 24,000 people during August.
The ABS has advised that some caution should be used when interpreting short-term movements in the August figures following changes to its supplementary survey methodology. It continues to recommend trend estimates as the best measure of underlying labour-market behaviour.
Market interpretation: Employment is continuing to expand, but the composition of August’s growth was weighted towards part-time employment. One month should not be interpreted as evidence of a permanent shift away from full-time hiring.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 4.6% in August 2026, up from 4.5% in July.
The number of unemployed people increased by approximately 28,200 to 722,900.
At the same time, the participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 67.1%, meaning a larger proportion of Australians were either employed or actively looking for work.
The employment-to-population ratio also edged higher to 63.9%.
This distinction is important. An increase in unemployment does not necessarily mean employment is falling. In August, both employment and unemployment increased because the labour force itself grew.
For employers, a national unemployment rate of 4.6% does not mean every occupation has suddenly become easy to recruit.
Candidate availability can vary substantially depending on profession, experience, location, salary and the capabilities required.
Australia recorded 325,000 job vacancies in August 2026, down 0.9% from May and 1.3% from a year earlier.
Private-sector vacancies decreased by 2.0% over the quarter to 286,300, while public-sector vacancies increased by 7.8% to 38,700.
Vacancies are now approximately 31% below the peak recorded in May 2022. However, the current figure still represents hundreds of thousands of unfilled positions across Australian organisations.
Hiring conditions also differed considerably by industry during the quarter.
Among the largest percentage movements, vacancies increased by:
24.5% in Retail Trade
14.1% in Financial and Insurance Services
Vacancies decreased particularly strongly in:
Wholesale Trade, down 18.0%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, down 17.3%
These movements highlight why national labour-market figures should not be used in isolation when determining how difficult a particular vacancy will be to fill.
Jobs and Skills Australia recorded 212,400 online job advertisements in August 2026.
Advertisements increased by 0.3% during the month, equivalent to approximately 560 additional advertisements.
Importantly, online advertising remained approximately 25% above the monthly average recorded in 2019.
Jobs and Skills Australia also reported that job advertisements increased across most major occupational groups during August, with Machinery Operators and Drivers and Sales Workers recording some of the strongest increases. Victoria and the Northern Territory were among the locations recording particularly strong monthly growth.
Job vacancies and online advertisements measure different things.
A job vacancy represents an unfilled position at a point in time, while the Internet Vacancy Index measures advertisements placed online. A single advertisement can also relate to more than one vacancy, and some employers recruit without advertising online at all.
Together, the two indicators suggest recruitment activity remains substantial, even as the overall vacancy stock continues to ease from the unusually high levels seen after the pandemic.
Jobs and Skills Australia’s August Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey found that 50% of employers had recently recruited.
This was six percentage points higher than the previous month and unchanged from a year earlier.
The survey also reported:
45% recruitment difficulty
20% of employers expected to increase staffing levels
recruitment difficulty was five percentage points higher than a year earlier
the proportion expecting to increase staffing was five percentage points lower than a year earlier.
This provides useful context for employers assessing the labour market.
Candidate availability may have improved compared with the tightest periods of recent years, but a significant share of businesses still encounter difficulty when attempting to recruit.
For roles requiring specialist expertise, strong industry experience or leadership capability, simply generating a high number of applications does not guarantee that the right candidate will be among them.
Just over 1 million employed Australians changed their employer or business during the year ending February 2026.
That produced a national job mobility rate of 7.2%, down from 7.7% a year earlier and considerably below the 9.6% recorded in 2023.
Mobility differed substantially by age.
Approximately:
12.0% of workers aged 15 to 24 changed jobs
younger workers remained significantly more mobile than older workers
only 1.2% of employed people aged 65 and over changed jobs.
There were also meaningful differences between industries.
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services recorded the highest mobility rate at approximately 10.8%, followed by Mining at 9.3% and Construction at 9.2%.
Lower overall job mobility has an important implication for recruitment.
Many capable employees may not be actively searching for another position, even when they would consider moving for the right opportunity.
For employers seeking specialist or high-performing talent, proactive search and direct candidate engagement can therefore remain important even as the broader labour market becomes more balanced.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted underemployment rate decreased slightly to 6.2% in August.
Underemployment measures employed people who would like and are available to work additional hours.
Separate ABS research released during 2026 found that, in February:
822,800 part-time workers wanted and were available to work more hours
almost half of these workers, 48%, would have preferred full-time employment.
The broader data demonstrates why employment growth should not be assessed through headcount alone.
The number of hours worked, the type of employment available and whether people can obtain their preferred amount of work are also important parts of labour-market health.
In August, total hours worked increased by approximately 14 million hours, or 0.7%, to 2.009 billion hours.
The Wage Price Index increased 3.2% over the year to the June quarter of 2026.
Private-sector wages increased by 3.1% annually, while Public Sector wages increased by 3.4%.
Annual wage growth has moderated from the higher levels recorded during 2023 and 2024, but remains above the rates typically recorded immediately before the pandemic.
A separate ABS measure found full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings reached $2,083.70 in May 2026, up 3.7% over the year.
Average weekly earnings also varied considerably between industries. In May, average full-time adult ordinary earnings included approximately:
$3,224 per week in Mining
$2,390 in Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
$2,341 in Financial and Insurance Services
$2,179 in Public Administration and Safety
$1,985 in Construction
$1,510 in Accommodation and Food Services.
These broad industry averages should not be treated as salary benchmarks for individual roles.
Experience, seniority, occupation, location, sector and the availability of suitable candidates can produce substantial differences within the same industry.
Australia has a larger available talent pool than during some of the tightest periods of the post-pandemic labour market, but that does not mean every vacancy will be straightforward to fill.
The key question is not simply how many candidates are available.
It is how many suitable candidates are available for your particular role.
Employers should clearly separate essential capabilities from desirable requirements before beginning recruitment. This can broaden the potential candidate pool while keeping the focus on what someone genuinely needs to succeed in the position.
Australia’s job mobility rate has declined to 7.2%.
For employers, that means many experienced people may be relatively settled in their current organisations.
A candidate can still be interested in a strong opportunity without actively searching SEEK or other job boards.
For specialist, senior or difficult-to-fill vacancies, direct engagement, market mapping and proactive candidate search can help businesses reach candidates who would otherwise remain invisible to an advertising-only process.
National unemployment and wage figures provide valuable context, but they cannot determine the appropriate salary for an individual vacancy.
Employers should consider:
occupation
seniority
industry
location
flexibility
competing opportunities
specialist experience
scarcity of the required capabilities.
Current salary benchmarking can help businesses position an opportunity correctly before entering the market.
A more balanced labour market should not be interpreted as permission for recruitment processes to become unnecessarily slow.
Strong candidates can still have options.
Determine interview stages, decision makers, approvals and salary parameters before beginning the search.
Clear communication and timely feedback make it easier to maintain candidate engagement and reduce the risk of losing someone late in the process.
Salary remains important, but it is rarely the only factor determining whether someone changes jobs.
Candidates may also consider:
flexibility
leadership
career development
progression
team structure
responsibilities
workplace culture
stability
the opportunity to make an impact.
Employers should be able to explain clearly why an experienced candidate should leave their current organisation for the opportunity being offered.
Australia had approximately 325,000 job vacancies in August and 212,400 online job advertisements.
That represents substantial recruitment activity.
However, hiring is becoming more considered in parts of the market, so candidates may encounter stronger competition than they did during the peak labour shortages of 2021 and 2022.
Targeting positions where your experience genuinely aligns with the employer’s needs can be more effective than submitting a high volume of generic applications.
Employers increasingly want to understand outcomes, not simply responsibilities.
Where possible, demonstrate measurable achievements such as:
revenue generated
sales growth
costs reduced
projects completed
teams built
employees developed
customers acquired
operational efficiencies
process improvements.
Specific examples give an employer a clearer picture of the value you could bring to their business.
Wages are continuing to grow, but salary conditions vary substantially between industries, occupations and locations.
Candidates should research the market for their particular skills and level of experience rather than relying solely on national averages.
When evaluating a new opportunity, consider the complete role.
A higher salary can be attractive, but so can better leadership, flexibility, progression, responsibilities, stability and opportunities to develop new capabilities.
The strongest career move is not always the role offering the highest immediate remuneration.
Even as unemployment increases modestly, businesses can continue to face difficulty finding people with the right combination of experience.
Skills that directly solve a business problem, address a capability gap or support growth can remain valuable in a more selective hiring market.
Australia’s labour market in October 2026 can reasonably be described as resilient, but gradually rebalancing.
Employment continues to grow, workforce participation remains high and online job advertising remains well above pre-pandemic levels.
At the same time:
unemployment has increased to 4.6%
job vacancies have continued to ease
job mobility has declined
wage growth is moderating
employers remain selective about new hires.
The Reserve Bank of Australia continues to describe the labour market as relatively tight, although it expects conditions to ease gradually as economic growth slows. In its August forecasts, the RBA projected unemployment would rise gradually over the coming years.
Since those forecasts were published, the cash rate has also increased. On 29 September 2026, the RBA raised the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.60%, citing elevated inflation and continued domestic capacity pressures. The RBA said the labour market remained “a little tight”.
For employers, the current environment creates an opportunity to approach recruitment more strategically.
Talent may be more accessible overall, but the best candidate for a specialist or important role will not necessarily be actively applying for jobs.
For candidates, opportunities remain substantial, but clear positioning, relevant experience and evidence of impact are increasingly important.
As of October 2026, the latest available seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 4.6%, based on ABS Labour Force data for August 2026.
September Labour Force figures are scheduled for release on 15 October 2026.
Australia’s labour market remains resilient, although conditions have become more balanced.
Employment increased by 39,500 people in August, online job advertisements remain around 25% above their 2019 monthly average and half of employers surveyed by Jobs and Skills Australia were recruiting. However, unemployment has increased and the overall number of job vacancies continues to ease.
Approximately 14.84 million Australians were employed in August 2026.
Employment increased by around 39,500 during the month and by approximately 238,100 over the previous year.
There were approximately 325,000 job vacancies in August 2026, according to the latest ABS Job Vacancies Survey.
That was 0.9% lower than May 2026 and 1.3% lower than August 2025.
Jobs and Skills Australia recorded approximately 212,400 online job advertisements in August 2026.
That was 0.3% higher than the previous month and around 25% above the monthly average recorded in 2019.
Yes.
Jobs and Skills Australia reported that 50% of employers had recently recruited in August 2026, while 20% expected to increase staffing levels.
Hiring activity and difficulty vary substantially by industry, occupation and location.
Candidate availability has improved in some areas, but hiring difficulty remains significant.
Jobs and Skills Australia’s August survey reported recruitment difficulty at 45%, while the ABS still recorded 325,000 job vacancies nationally.
Specialist, technical and leadership positions can remain challenging even when the broader labour market becomes more balanced.
Yes.
Australia’s annual job mobility rate declined to 7.2% in the year ending February 2026, down from 7.7% a year earlier and 9.6% in 2023.
Yes.
The Wage Price Index increased 3.2% over the year to the June quarter of 2026. Private-sector wages increased by 3.1% and Public Sector wages increased by 3.4%.