Regional spotlight on New South Wales and Queensland

In the month to mid-March 2022, payroll jobs continued to be influenced by the COVID-19 Omicron variant and easing of pandemic restrictions across the country.

In late February, payroll jobs were further impacted when adverse weather conditions resulted in widespread flooding in coastal areas of New South Wales and south-east Queensland.

To aid in understanding the influence of these factors on payroll jobs in New South Wales and Queensland, Statistical Area level 3 (SA3) maps in this article present payroll job changes over two consecutive fortnights between mid-February and mid-March 2022.

The underlying data used in preparing these maps is available in Table 5 of this release.

Payroll jobs can show larger short-term changes than Labour Force statistics on employment, given that employees may be away from paid work for a short period without losing their job. Information on employed people working reduced or no hours are available in the Labour Force release.

The extended rainfall event in late February saw extensive flooding in coastal regions of New South Wales including parts of Greater Sydney.

The same extended rainfall event in late February affected south-east Queensland, with extensive flooding in regional coastal areas including Greater Brisbane.