Vacancies for marketing and advertising professionals in Australia rose by 6.7 per cent in June, newly-released figures from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) show.

According to the official data, employment in a number of sectors is beginning to pick up after several months of downturns, with trades positions and food industry vacancies also up by 3.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

The biggest beneficiaries of this upturn in fortunes were the states of Tasmania and the Northern Territory, where job opportunities increased by 3.2 per cent and 1.9 per cent in June when compared to the figures recorded for the same month in 2008.

However, at the same time the DEEWR statistics also showed that the Australian labor market is still struggling in the wake of the global economic slump.

The number of skilled jobs available in June was 61.5 per cent lower than in the same month in 2008, with medical and science-related jobs down by 13.6 per cent from May.

The state of New South Wales, which is home to Australia's largest city, Sydney, remains the biggest victim of the current downturn, the department also confirmed.

At the same time, Australia's Commonwealth Bank has reported that retail sales across the country have started to rise again, with this trend likely to create new jobs over the medium-term future.