A new report from Jobs and Skills Australia, the Australian Labour Market for Migrants finds that overall Australia’s labour market remains resilient but is softening, with the national unemployment rate at 4.3% in November 2025, up from 4.0% a year earlier.
Employment growth over the year to November 2025 was uneven across industries. The largest employment increases occurred in:
- Health Care and Social Assistance (+103,800 jobs),
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (+64,200), and
- Education and Training (+49,700).
In other industry sectors employment contracted:
- Wholesale Trade (–17,000)
- Manufacturing (-15,500), and
- Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (–13,500)
For VET providers, this signals sustained demand in care, professional and education pathways, but continued structural pressure in other parts of the economy.
Migrant labour market outcomes vary considerably by region of birth and length of residence. People born in North-West Europe recorded the lowest unemployment rate (3.1%), while those born in North Africa and the Middle East had a higher rate (6.9%) over the 12 months to November 2025.
Recently arrived migrants (within five years) consistently experience higher unemployment than those resident for longer periods. Participation rates are generally strong, particularly for longer-settled cohorts.
There is also an important state-territory dimension in the data – with 81 percent of people employed in Tasmania being born in Australia, compared with 57 percent in Western Australia.
For VET providers, these findings underscore the importance of English language support, recognition of prior learning, and employment-focused transition programs for recent arrivals, and there will be more demand in some states and territories than others.
The report’s “Hot Topic” examines the role of workers on temporary work visas in the Construction Industry. The sector employed 1.35 million workers in May 2025 and is projected to grow to 1.5 million by May 2035.
In 2024-25, only 5,485 temporary skilled visas were granted for Construction roles, and as at September 2025 there were 11,316 primary temporary skilled visa holders employed in Construction — representing just 0.84% of the total construction workforce. However, other analysis (an integrated dataset maintained by the ABS and the Department of Home Affairs) shows that international students and other temporary work visa holders also play a role in the Construction industry – accounting for 5.4% of the Construction workforce in 2021, with Student/Temporary Graduate visa holders increasing by 13.7 percentage points between 2016 and 2021.
Notably, in 2021, 80 percent of Student/Temporary Graduate visa holders in Construction were employed in residential building, most commonly as Carpenters (22%) and Builder’s Labourers (18%). This research highlights the contribution international students can and are playing in the residential construction workforce.
