Jobs and Skills Australia’s new Occupation Shortage Report: March quarter 2026 provides a useful, high-level labour market signal for VET providers based on employers’ recent recruitment experiences, rather than enrolment or training data alone. The report draws on the Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA), with around 900 employers surveyed each month and more than 11,000 surveys covering more than 20,000 vacancies over the most recent 12 months.
Nationally, the report points to a softening in employers’ ability to fill vacancies. The vacancy fill rate fell to 68.2% in the March quarter 2026, down 0.9 percentage points over the quarter and 3.3 percentage points over the year. Total applicants per vacancy also declined to 21.5, while qualified applicants fell to 8.3. Interestingly, suitable applicants increased to 5.2 per vacancy, suggesting the issue is not simply a lack of applicants, but the continuing challenge of matching people with the skills, experience and work-readiness employers need.
The metropolitan–regional divide remains important for the VET sector to understand. City-based employers had a vacancy fill rate of 69.7%, with 25.4 total applicants per vacancy, 10.2 qualified applicants and 6.0 suitable applicants. Regional employers faced a lower fill rate of 65.0%, with only 13.7 total applicants, 5.0 qualified applicants and 3.5 suitable applicants per vacancy. For regional providers this reinforces the importance of locally tailored provision, flexible delivery, employer partnerships and pathways that help retain learners and graduates in regional labour markets.
By skill level, the most striking result for the VET sector is that Skill Level 3 occupations (ie those requiring Certificates IV or III – with at least two years on the job training for the Certificate III) had the lowest national fill rate, at 55.5%, even though this was slightly higher than 12 months earlier. Skill Level 3 occupations also had fewer applicants than most other skill levels, with 15.2 total applicants, 5.0 qualified applicants and 3.5 suitable applicants per vacancy. That means the VET sector, despite everyone’s best efforts, is not graduating the number of technician and trade graduates employers need
The report’s key message is that training supply needs to be considered alongside employability, placement quality, industry currency and regional workforce conditions. The data suggests employers may still be seeing reasonable numbers of applicants in some fields, but not always enough people who are qualified and suitable for the work. That places a premium on VET programs that build occupational capability, support learners to complete, strengthen links with employers, and help students understand workplace expectations before they graduate.
