The now widespread use of the internet as a source of information on job vacancies may have undermined the usefulness of newspaper advertisements - and possibly surveys - as the traditional sources of timely, cost-effective and accurate information on labour market openings. This paper outlines the New Zealand Department of Labour job vacancy series. This is followed by selected international illustrations, measurement options, job vacancy reporting and an assessment of the Department of Labour’s experience with vacancy monitoring. The overall aims of this paper are to raise the awareness, in principle, of job vacancy data as a useful indicator of labour market conditions and the challenges, in practice, of creating appropriate series.