Employment vacancies across the design and construction sector ticked up in July after having previously fallen over three months from March to June, the latest data shows.

In its monthly report for July, the Department of Employment, Skills and Family Business compiled data about job vacancies from Seek, Career One and the Australian Job Search web site.

According to the data, vacancies increased in July for most specialisations across the architecture, engineering and construction profession.

In building, construction manager vacancies rose by 2.5 percent from 3,823 to 3,920.

Vacancies also increased for electronics engineers (up 16.1 percent), urban planners (up 10.1 percent), architects and landscape architects (up 4.9 percent), mining engineers (up 4.3 percent), industrial engineers (up 4.2 percent), civil engineers (up 3.6 percent), electrical engineers (up 1.6 percent) and chemical engineers (up 1.2 percent).

The increase follows three months of declines since a strong reading in March.

Caution should be observed in interpreting monthly data as the figures are not seasonally adjusted and are subject to seasonal influences.

Nevertheless, vacancy numbers are well down over the past year – a phenomenon which reflects a slowing building market.

Compared with the same month last year, job vacancies for interior designers were down in July by 44 percent.

Those for chemical engineers, construction managers, electronics engineers, urban and regional planners, civil engineers, architects and landscape architects and engineering managers were each down by between nine and seventeen percent (see chart).

The only specialisation to buck this trend are mining engineers, where vacancies are up 14 percent over the past year amid stronger resource sector conditions.

Across all sectors of the economy, vacancies increased by 0.4 percent in July but were down 5.5 percent compared with July 2018.