CANBERRA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Job vacancies in Australia fell 0.9 percent in the three months to August, following a 2.2-percent decline in the previous three months, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of job vacancies fell by 3,000 to 325,000 in August, while vacancies declined by 1.3 percent over the year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The decline was driven by the private sector, particularly business goods and services, partly offset by rises in customer-facing roles including retail trade, Sean Crick, ABS head of labor statistics, said in a statement.
Wholesale trade recorded the largest quarterly fall in vacancies, down 18 percent, followed by professional, scientific and technical services, which fell 17.3 percent, the ABS said.
In contrast, vacancies in retail trade rose 24.5 percent, the largest increase among industries, followed by financial and insurance services, up by 14.1 percent, statistics showed.
Private-sector vacancies fell 2 percent, or 5,800 positions, while public-sector vacancies rose by 7.8 percent, or 2,800, in the three months to August, the department said. ■
