Fifteen things about the Australian labour market you probably didn’t know: 2012 update
Each year the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) releases a variety of reports that provide an overview of the state of the labour market. One of the most comprehensive, and interesting, of these reports is their annual Australian Jobs report.
Here are my fifteen random extracts from that report:
1. In the five years between November 2006 and November 2011 there was a 10.4% increase in the number of people employed in Australia (10.41 million to 11.45 million).
2. By sector the largest total five year jobs growth was in Health Care and Social Assistance (276,000 new jobs) followed Professional, Technical & Scientific Services (122, 300 new jobs), Education & Training (114,3300 new jobs) and Mining was fourth (102, 900 new jobs).
3. In the same five year period the sectors that suffered the largest loss of Australian jobs occurred in Manufacturing (72,100 jobs lost), followed by (perhaps, surprisingly) Information Media and Telecommunications (46,800 jobs lost) and then Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (25,400 jobs lost).
4. Over the year to March 2012, employment increased significantly in Western Australia, up by 44 900 (or 3.7%), and the unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage points to 4.1%, well below the national figure of 5.2%. The State’s participation rate increased by 0.7 percentage points over the year to 68.9%, the highest of any state.
5. By contrast, labour market conditions in Victoria (with greater exposure to Manufacturing, which is hard hit by the high Australian dollar and competitive pressures) deteriorated over the year to March 2012 . Employment fell by 22 800 (or 0.8%) over the year, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.4 percentage points to 5.8% in March 2012. Over the period, the participation rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 65.3%.
6. Looking at broad geographic labour markets by state (ie either capital city jobs or regional jobs), employment in all state capitals accounts for 63% of national employment yet the fastest job growth in the five years to November 2011 occurred in Regional Queensland (16%), just ahead of Perth (15.7%) growing area.
7. The lowest five year jobs growth nationally was recorded in Regional Tasmania (5.4%) with Hobart (6.4%) recording the second lowest jobs growth.
8. Part-time jobs comprise 30% of all jobs in the Australian economy.
9. Females hold 46% of all jobs in the Australian economy.
10. A Bachelor’s degree (or higher) is held by 27% of the Australian workforce while 37% of the workforce have no post-school qualifications.
11. Proportion of the Australian workforce, by remoteness, who have a tertiary degree (or higher): 31.7% (major city), 16.7% (regional area), 10.8% (remote).
12. In 2011, GCA figures show the median annual starting salary for all Bachelor degree graduates aged less than 25 years and in their first full-time job in Australia was $50 000, up from $49 000 in 2010. The five highest starting salaries were for Dentistry ($80 000), Optometry ($70 000), Earth Sciences ($65 000), Engineering ($60 000) and Medicine ($58,500).
13. 2011 unemployment rate by highest level of education completed: Year 10, or lower – 8.6%, Year 12 – 5.5%, Certificate III/IV – 4.1%, bachelor degree, or higher – 3.0%.
14. The biggest employing sectors in Australian regional areas were Health Care and Social Assistance (495,000), just ahead of Retail Trade (470,000) and Construction (407,000).
15. DEEWR predict that in the period to 2016-2017, the highest new jobs (by disaggregated job sector) will occur in Hospitals (+63,100), Cafés, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services (+53 000) and Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services (+46,400).
Well-chosen stats there Ross. They don't necessarily tell us anything we aren't seeing, but good to have some data to validate the trends.
The unemployment rates by education level are sobering – education really is the key to so much.