Council
14 April, 2023
Employment figures on the rise
THE latest figures from the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have shown payroll jobs are beginning to show signs of increasing to pre-pandemic levels.
The data showed jobs rose 0.6 per cent in the month to mid-March 2023, following a larger seasonal rise of 2.9 per cent over the month to mid-February.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the pace of payroll jobs growth in early 2023 was similar to growth in early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The middle of March 2023 marks three years since the start of the pandemic and is the first March without impacts from pandemic-related business disruptions,” he said.
“Payroll jobs now sit 10.5 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.”
Most states and territories saw a rise in payroll jobs in the month to mid-March 2023, with the largest in the Northern Territory (up 2.3 per cent) and South Australia (up 1.1 per cent).
“All jurisdictions have seen growth in payroll jobs since the start of the pandemic three years ago, ranging from an 8.9 per cent rise in New South Wales to 13.4 per cent in Western Australia,” Mr Jarvis said.
In the month to mid-March 2023, 10 out of 19 industries saw payroll job increases, with the largest in education and training (up 5.8 per cent).
In mid-March 2023, two industries had fewer payroll jobs than at the start of the pandemic.
“Only the manufacturing and transport, postal and warehousing industries had less payroll jobs in March 2023 than they had before the start of the pandemic, at 0.3 per cent and 0.9 per cent lower,” Mr Jarvis said.
“The largest rises in the three years to mid-March 2023 were in the arts and recreation services and mining industries, up by 19.3 and 18.8 per cent.
“The growth in the arts and recreation services is notable, given that this industry saw some of the highest payroll job losses in the first months of the pandemic, falling by around 30 per cent.”
