The number of seasonally adjusted filled jobs in Australia rose 0.4% to 16 million in the December 2024 quarter, following a 1.7% increase in the prior three-month period, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

Total jobs rose 0.5% to 16.4 million, while job vacancies increased 2.3% to 346,000.

"The rise in job vacancies in the December quarter was the first rise since the September quarter 2022, after eight quarterly falls in a row," said Bjorn Jarvis, the bureau's head of labor statistics.

Job vacancies accounted for 2.1% of total jobs, way higher than the pre-pandemic level of 1.6%, Jarvis said.

"This shows that, despite the growth we have seen in jobs, employment, and hours over the past five years, employers are still more likely to be looking for people," Jarvis added.

Hours worked rose 0.7% as did average income per employed person.

On an annual basis, filled jobs rose 3.1% in the December 2024 quarter. Total jobs rose 2.8%, while job vacancies fell 9.6%.