SYDNEY (Reuters) - Job vacancies in Australia rose to a fresh all-time peak in the three months ended November in a promising sign that demand for labour would remain healthy for some time yet.
Total job vacancies rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent to 245,700 in the Sept-Nov quarter, from the previous quarter when they increased 1.1 percent, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.
That was the highest reading since the series began in 1979. Vacancies were up 13.9 percent on a year earlier, although the pace of growth did slow from the previous quarter.
Vacancies in the private sector rose 1.1 percent to 220,000, again the highest on record. That was up 13.5 percent on the previous year. The public sector saw vacancies increase 4.0 percent to 21,600.
Analysts value the vacancies series as it has proved a reliable leading indicator of labour demand and turning points in employment growth.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; editing by Richard Pullin)
