Australia's ageing population and rising healthcare needs continue to drive demand for nursing services. Recent May 2026 data release from Mirus Australia showed residential aged care occupancy reaching a nine-year high while resident care complexity continues to increase, highlighting growing demand for care across the sector. At the same time, however, RN care minutes declined over recent months, with Mirus Australia suggesting this reflects rosters still retaining capacity to absorb rising demand pressures.
Australia continues to graduate record numbers of Registered Nurses, supported by placement initiatives and programs. This expanding supply has been accompanied by reports of better retention and lower job offer rates for graduates, alongside indications of increased use of short term contracting arrangements in parts of the sector, and suggestions that graduate employment outcomes may be influenced by geographic mobility constraints and concentration of demand in certain regions. Recent reporting on nurse pay bargaining and migration challenges highlights ongoing cost-of-living pressures, alongside workforce mobility constraints and broader system pressures affecting the sector. Technological developments in patient assessment, rostering and scheduling and care delivery may also be contributing to operational efficiency, with potential implications for how workforce requirements scale alongside growing care demand.
To better understand current labour market conditions, we compared the number of employed Registered Nurses with advertised Registered Nurse job vacancies over time.
Year | Vacancies | Employed | Vacancies per 100 RNs |
2019 | 4,223 | 290,383 | 1.45 |
2022 | 7,668 | 308,882 | 2.48 |
2026 | 7,138 | 364,096 | 1.96 |
Source: Employment: ABS Labour Force, February. Vacancies: Jobs and Skills Australia Internet Vacancy Index, April.
Change | 2019→2026 | 2022→2026 |
RN employment | +25.4% | +17.9% |
RN vacancies | +69.0% | −6.9% |
The data shows Australia's Registered Nurse workforce has continued to expand strongly since both 2019 and 2022. Advertised vacancies remain well above pre-pandemic levels but are easing from their 2022 peak.
This suggests employers are continuing to recruit Registered Nurses, although hiring demand could be normalising following the exceptionally tight labour market experienced during the pandemic recovery. Importantly, high demand for healthcare does not necessarily translate into continued increases in recruitment at the same pace, with recruitment and workforce expansion decisions influenced by a range of factors including workforce availability, funding conditions, productivity changes, retention, migration and evolving workforce models.
Read the Mirus Australia report here.
Jobs and Skills Internet Vacancy Index data
