Labour Account Australia

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The Australian Labour Account provides quarterly and annual time series for four quadrants: Jobs, People, Hours and Payments

Reference period
March 2023
Released
9/06/2023

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023:

  • Total jobs increased 0.7% to 15.7 million.
  • Filled jobs increased 0.7% to 15.3 million.
  • Secondary jobs increased 3.5% to 1.1 million.
  • Proportion of vacant jobs remained at 2.8%.
  • Multiple job-holders increased 2.1% to 947,000.
  • Hours worked increased 0.5% to 5.7 billion hours.
 
 Mar-23Quarterly changeQuarterly change (%)Annual changeAnnual change (%)
Jobs     
Total jobs15,687,800102,5000.7%631,9004.2%
Filled jobs15,250,300105,1000.7%615,2004.2%
Job vacancies437,500-2,600-0.6%16,7004.0%
Main jobs14,189,20069,6000.5%514,0003.8%
Secondary jobs1,061,10035,5003.5%101,20010.5%
Proportion of vacant jobs2.8%0.0 ptsna0.0 ptsna
People     
Employed people14,248,700119,0000.8%515,2003.8%
Multiple job holders947,30019,5002.1%87,80010.2%
Multiple job holding rate6.6%0.1 ptsna0.4 ptsna
Hours     
Hours actually worked5,748.7 million30.6 million0.5%383.9 million7.2%
Payments     
Average income per employed person$22,632.10$168.600.8%$1,159.805.4%

All data are shown in seasonally adjusted terms

Guide to labour statistics

To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment data.

Data impacts and changes

Revisions this quarter

Upcoming change to the release of annual Labour Accounts data

Jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023:

  • Filled jobs increased by 0.7%, following a 0.9% rise in the December quarter 2022. Filled jobs grew by 4.2% through the year.
  • The number of main jobs increased by 69,600 (or 0.5%).
  • The number of multiple job holders increased by 2.1%.
  • The proportion of vacant jobs remained at 2.8%.
  • The number of public sector jobs increased by 2.1%, while the number of private sector jobs increased by 0.5%.

Total jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023, the total number of jobs increased by 102,500 (or 0.7%). This consisted of a decrease of 2,600 job vacancies and an increase of 105,100 filled jobs.

Filled jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023, the number of filled jobs increased by 105,100 to 15.3 million. 

Filled jobs, by industry, March quarter 2023, seasonally adjusted
Filled jobs ('000)Quarterly change (%)Annual change (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)465.00.5-0.9
Mining (B)210.81.43.6
Manufacturing (C)907.4-3.4-3.3
Electricity, gas, water and waste services (D)131.7-0.64.0
Construction (E)1,241.3-2.7-0.5
Wholesale trade (F)621.61.512.2
Retail trade (G)1,496.81.62.1
Accommodation and food services (H)1,324.54.914.7
Transport, postal and warehousing (I)717.80.58.3
Information media and telecommunications (J)203.0-1.85.8
Financial and insurance services (K)522.01.27.7
Rental, hiring and real estate services (L)302.30.60.7
Professional, scientific and technical services (M)1,277.2-4.00.4
Administrative and support services (N)992.3-1.85.0
Public administration and safety (O)780.92.40.2
Education and training (P)1,161.02.54.3
Health care and social assistance (Q)2,071.13.26.1
Arts and recreation services (R)261.86.116.2
Other services (S)561.71.92.3
Total all industries15,250.30.74.2

Main and secondary jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023:

  • Main jobs increased by 69,600 (or 0.5%).
  • Secondary jobs increased by 35,500 (or 3.5%). 
  • The proportion of secondary jobs to filled jobs increased to 7.0%.

The three industries with the highest number of secondary jobs were Administrative and support services, Education and training, and Health care and social assistance.

Secondary jobs can be held by people who have their main job in the same or a different industry. 

Statistical discrepancy - Filled jobs

People

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023:

  • The total number of employed people increased by 0.8% to 14.2 million. 
  • The number of multiple job holders increased by 2.1%.
  • Unemployed people increased by 11,200 people to 512,600.

The three industries with the highest number of employed people in the March quarter 2023 were Health care and social assistance, Retail trade, and Accommodation and food services.

Hours

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023, the total number of hours actually worked increased by 30.6 million hours (or 0.5%) to 5.7 billion hours.

The three industries with the highest number of hours actually worked in the March quarter 2023 were Health care and social assistance, Construction, and Professional, scientific and technical services.

Payments

The Labour Account Payments quadrant presents the costs incurred by enterprises in employing labour, and the income received by people from its provision. Total income consists of compensation of employees and labour income from self-employment. The addition of other related costs to employers to total income will derive total labour costs.

In seasonally adjusted terms for the March quarter 2023:

  • Total labour income increased by $5,076 million (or 1.6%) to $322,478 million. 
  • The average labour income per employed person increased by 0.8% to $22,632.
  • Total compensation of employees increased by 2.2% to $293,121 million.
  • Labour income from self-employment decreased by 3.7% to $29,357 million.
  • Total labour costs increased by $5,919 million (1.8%) to $343,988 million. 

The three industries with the highest total labour income in the March quarter 2023 were Health care and social assistance, Professional, scientific and technical services, and Construction.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Quarterly estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Division and Total All Industries.

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

Annual estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Subdivision, Division and Total All Industries.

Labour Account balanced - Balanced annual estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Subdivision, Division and Total All Industries.

Labour Account unbalanced - Unbalanced annual estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Total All Industries.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data explorer user guide.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6150.0.55.003.

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