Just 3 work-seekers for each post

Unemployment is losing its sting. The latest job vacancy survey shows more jobs on offer than ever before.
The Bureau of Statistics found 194,000 jobs unfilled in November, well up on 151,000 the year before.

With 575,000 Australians looking for work, the finding means there are now only three unemployed for each vacant job.
A year earlier there were four.

The ratio of job seekers to vacant jobs is the best since the peak of the previous mining boom in May 2008.
It's not too far off the all-time best ratio of 2.5 unemployed chasing each vacant job.

But it depends on where you live. In the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory the Bureau finds there are actually more vacant jobs than people identifying as unemployed wanting to fill them.

In Western Australia there are fewer than two unemployed for each vacancy.

By far the hardest state in which to find work is Tasmania. There between 5 and 6 unemployed fight it out for each vacant job, down from 7 unemployed per job a year before.

In NSW — the toughest employment market on the mainland — the ratio is 3.7, down from 4.5. In Victoria it is 3.2, down from around four.

Nationally the jobs are overwhelmingly in the retail, accommodation and food service industries, which between them want 38,000 workers compared to the mining industry's 7700.

But mining industry vacancies have more than doubled in the past year, climbing from 4100.

The Bureau of Statistics figures are more reliable and representative than private counts of job advertisements because they include vacancies that are not advertised.

Economists expect the December employment figures due out today to show an extra 40,000 Australians found work, nudging the unemployed total down further.

Separately released figures showed home loan approvals for owner-occupiers climbed for the fifth consecutive month in November as confidence about employment grew. Borrowing by real estate investors fell to be down 6 per cent over the year.

Victoria is building by far the most new homes in the nation, with 1760 owner-occupiers borrowing to build in November, almost twice the 960 borrowing to build in NSW.

Fixed-rate loans accounted for 8 per cent of all new mortgages, up from 2 per cent earlier in the year and the highest proportion in more than two years amid concern about rising interest rates.

Non-bank borrowing grew sharply after outsized November rate hikes by each of the big banks.

The banks' share of new lending slipped from 89 to 87 per cent after sliding from near its peak of 91 per cent six months ago