According to Pickering, job postings in Victoria are tracking 49% below their trend at the same time last year. However, for the rest of Australia the gap is 26%. Moreover, a huge gap in hiring activity has emerged during Victoria’s second lockdown:
These findings are supported by the ABS’ payrolls data, which shows that payrolls in Victoria were 7.8% below their pre-crisis level as at 8 August, whereas the rest of Australia was down 3.8%. Again, the impact of the second lockdown has been considerable:
