Hours worked dropped by 0.3 per cent to 5,863 million hours in the December quarter 2023, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS labour statistics head Bjorn Jarvis said that after a couple of years of strong growth, hours worked in December quarter 2023 were 1 per cent below the series high in June quarter 2023.
“Apart from early 2020, around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, December quarter 2023 is the first time we’ve seen a fall in hours worked for two quarters in a row in about a decade – since March quarter 2014,” he said.
“However, it is also important to remember that the last couple of quarters were on the back of particularly strong growth in hours worked through the 2022-23 financial year, at 6.6 per cent. In annual terms, December 2023 quarter was still 2.0 per cent higher than December quarter 2022.
Filled jobs rose by 0.4 per cent (57,000 jobs) in the December quarter, which was also slower than in recent quarters. The annual increase of 2.8 per cent (428,000 jobs) was noticeably lower than the annual growth of 4.7 per cent (692,000 jobs) at March quarter 2023.
“The slower growth seen in filled jobs, together with the continued reduction in hours worked, suggests some moderation in the Australian labour market since the middle of 2023,” he said.
“The multiple job-holding rate, which climbed to record highs during the pandemic, has also begun to stabilise, and has been between 6.6 and 6.7 per cent over the past year. While it hasn’t continued to increase, it is still around 0.8 percentage points higher than it was immediately before the pandemic.”
Job vacancies then fell a further 5.6 per cent in December quarter 2023, which saw the proportion of total jobs that were vacant fall to 2.4 per cent in, the lowest it had been since September quarter 2021.
“Five consecutive falls in both job vacancies and the proportion of vacant jobs shows an easing in demand for labour from the peaks we saw in September quarter 2022. However, both measures are still well above their pre-pandemic levels, which suggests that the labour market continues to remain relatively tight despite these falls,” Mr Jarvis said
