Total payroll jobs increased by 1.0 per cent through May, according to the latest release of weekly payroll figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
Head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, Bjorn Jarvis, said: “The latest data showed that the total payroll job losses since mid-March were greatest in the week ending 18 April (8.9 per cent) and had recovered to a 7.5 per cent loss by the end of May.”
Payroll jobs worked by females increased by 1.4 per cent through May, compared with 0.4 per cent for males. However, total female job losses since mid-March were still greater (8.0 per cent, compared to 6.3 per cent for males).
Some of the industries most heavily impacted by COVID-19 showed slight recovery in payroll jobs through May.
“Payroll jobs in the Accommodation and food services industry increased by 5.0 per cent through May, but remained 29.1 per lower than in mid-March,” Mr Jarvis said.
Analysis showed jobs worked by multiple job holders were heavily over-represented in job losses. Around 29.0% of jobs lost since mid-March were previously worked by people as a secondary job. JobKeeper support can be sought for only one job for each eligible employee.
“Looking at the week-to-week changes, there was a 0.4 per cent increase in the number of payroll jobs in the week ending 30 May, following no change recorded in the week ending 23 May (0.0%),” Mr Jarvis said.
Further information is available in Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia (cat. no. 6160.0.55.001).
The ABS would like to acknowledge the continued support from the Australian Taxation Office in enabling the ABS to produce these statistics, providing weekly insights into the Australian labour market.