Labour Account Australia, Experimental Estimates

The Australian Labour Account showed that over the six years to June 2016, filled jobs grew by 6.9% from 12.4 million to 13.2 million. Over the same period, the number of employed persons increased by 6.8% from 11.7 million to 12.5 million. The slightly slower growth in employed persons compared to filled jobs reflected growth in multiple job holding, with secondary jobs increasing by 64,100 (9.2%), compared with main jobs which increased by 791,700 (6.8%).

The strongest growth in total jobs (including filled jobs and job vacancies) over the past six years was over the period 2014–15 to 2015–16, with the number of total jobs rising by 2.8%.

Between 2010–11 and 2015–16, hours actually worked increased by 5.7% from 19,145.2 million hours to 20,230.4 million hours. Over the same period, average labour cost per hour worked increased from 40.6 dollars to 46.8 dollars.

Between 2010–11 and 2015–16, hours paid for increased by 6.1% from 20,559.3 million hours to 21,814.4 million hours. Over the same period, average labour cost per hour paid increased from 37.9 dollars to 43.4 dollars. In general, hours paid for will be greater than hours actually worked, as the majority of employed persons have access to some form of paid leave entitlements.

Total labour income increased over the six years to June 2016 by 21.5%, from 736,510.4 million dollars to 895,198.9 million dollars, while total labour costs increased by 21.7% from 778,204.7 million dollars to 947,443.3 million dollars.

In 2015–16, the total number of jobs in the Australian economy increased by 358,600 (or 2.8%), made up of 16,700 job vacancies and 341,900 filled jobs. Job vacancies increased by 11.0% from 152,800 to 169,500, while filled jobs increased by 2.7% from 12.9 million to 13.2 million.

The number of main jobs grew by 2.6% from 12.1 million in 2014–15 to 12.5 million in 2015–16. Over the same period, secondary jobs grew by 3.7% from 735,900 in 2014–15 to 763,200 in 2015–16.

The Australian Labour Account showed that in 2015–16, the total number of employed persons increased from 2014–15 by 2.6% to 12.5 million.

There were 730,600 unemployed persons in 2015–16, a decrease of 23,200 persons (3.1%) from 2014–15. At the same time, there were 1.1 million underemployed persons, an increase of 39,600 persons (3.8%) from 2014–15. These respective changes in unemployed and underemployed persons represented an increase in the number of underutilised persons of 16,500 persons (0.9%) from 2014–15.

The Australian Labour Account showed that in 2015–16, the total number of hours actually worked increased from 2014–15 by 2.0% to 20,230.4 million hours. Hours sought but not worked, made up of hours sought by unemployed and additional hours sought by underemployed, decreased by 2.3% to 1,883.7 million hours over the same period.

In 2015–16, the total number of hours paid increased from 2014–15 by 2.5% to 21,814.4 million hours.

In 2015–16, total labour income increased from 2014–15 by 3.8% to 895,198.9 million dollars. This was driven by total compensation of employees, which increased by 3.1% to 807,123.0 million dollars, while labour income from self-employment increased by 10.8% to 88,075.9 million dollars.

Over the same period, total labour costs increased by 34,386.9 million dollars (3.8%) to 947,443.3 million dollars.

The following diagram shows the Australian Labour Account framework, which is made up of four distinct quadrants: Jobs, Persons, Labour Volume and Labour Payments.

The Jobs quadrant provides statistics on numbers of filled jobs derived separately from business and household sources, plus data on vacant jobs to provide a total number of jobs in the economy.

The Persons quadrant includes statistics on numbers of employed persons, together with data on numbers of unemployed and underemployed persons.

The Labour Volume quadrant provides statistics on hours paid for (derived from business data) and hours worked (from household sources), plus data on additional hours of work sought by unemployed and underemployed persons.

The Labour Payments quadrant provides statistics on labour income and employment costs.

The four quadrants are also linked by a set of identity relationships. Some relationships are direct, such as employed persons in the total economy is equal to the number of main jobs, while other relationships are considered indirect, such that the relationship is based on an average or ratio measure such as average hours worked per job, or average labour income per employed person.
 

In 2015–16, the industries with the largest shares of all filled jobs were Health care and social assistance (12.6%), Retail trade (10.4%), Construction (8.3%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (8.3%).

Secondary jobs can be held by persons who have their main job in the same or a different industry. Irrespective of the industry of main job, the industry in which the largest proportion of secondary jobs were held was Administrative and support services with 130,200 (17.1%) secondary jobs, followed by Health care and social assistance with 114,300 (15.0%) secondary jobs.

The industries with the fastest growth in the number of filled jobs from 2014–15 to 2015–16 were Information media and telecommunications 22,300 (13.2%) and Administrative and support services 52,600 (7.0%). The industry with the largest decline over the same period was Wholesale trade, declining by 2,400 (0.4%).

Industries with the largest shares of employed persons were Health care and social assistance (12.7%), Retail trade (10.8%), Professional, scientific and technical services (8.7%) and Construction (8.7%). The industries with the fastest growth in the number of employed persons in 2015–16 were Information media and telecommunications (13.1%), Administrative and support services (7.1%) and Health care and social assistance (5.8%). The industry with the largest decline was Wholesale trade, declining by 0.4%.

The Health care and social assistance industry had the lowest proportion of employed persons (1,581.5 thousand persons) compared with total jobs (1,678.2 thousand persons).

In 2015–16 the industries with the largest shares of hours actually worked were Health care and social assistance (11.2%), Construction (9.9%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (9.3%). Industries with the strongest growth in hours actually worked in 2015–16 were Information media and telecommunications (12.1%), Arts and recreation services (8.3%) and Health care and social assistance (7.0%) . The industry with the largest decline was Wholesale trade, declining by 3.7%.

In 2015–16 the industries with the largest shares of total labour income were Health care and social assistance (11.5%), Construction (10.5%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (9.2%). The industries with the strongest growth in total labour income from 2014–15 to 2015–16 were Rental, hiring and real estate services (11.5%), Arts and recreation services (10.6%) and Agriculture, forestry and fishing (7.5%). The industry with the largest decline over the same period was Mining, declining by 0.8%.

For the total of all industries, filled jobs for 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 and 2014–15 grew by 0.9%, 1.3%, 0.6% and 1.2% respectively. Growth in filled jobs increased in 2015–16 by 2.7%. Growth in filled jobs in 2015–16 was highest in Information media and telecommunications (13.2%), Administrative and support services (7.0%) and Health care and social assistance (6.0%). Filled jobs decreased in 2015–16 for Wholesale trade (0.4%) and Manufacturing (0.2%) - in absolute terms these declines were 2,400 and 1,700 jobs respectively.

Main jobs for the total of all industries have been steadily growing each year, with growth ranging from 0.6% in 2013–14 to 2.6% in 2015–16 over the past six years. Growth in secondary jobs has surpassed the growth in main jobs for the past three years. For 2015–16, the growth in main jobs was 2.6% while the growth in secondary jobs was 3.5%. In absolute terms, this was 316,100 main jobs compared to 25,800 secondary jobs.

Over the past six years, the industries with the largest growth in filled jobs were Health care and social assistance (23.6%), Professional, scientific and technical services (20.2%), and Mining (17.7%). These three industries combined added 2,943.1 thousand jobs to the economy. The two industries that had the largest decline over the past six years were Manufacturing (8.2%) and Agriculture, forestry and fishing (1.2%). In absolute terms, these were 78,000 and 6,100 jobs respectively.

For all years, employed persons grew broadly in line with growth in filled jobs. At the industry level, growth in employed persons was strongest in Information media and telecommunications (13.1%), Administrative and support services (7.1%) and Health care and social assistance (5.8%).

For underutilised persons, there were increases in the total of all industries for all years ranging from 0.9% in 2015–16 to 9.6% in 2014–15. The increase in 2015–16 was strongest in Financial and insurance services (29.1%), Rental, hiring and real estate services (19.9%) and Administrative and support services (13.8%).

Over the past six years, the industries with the largest shares of employed persons were Retail trade (11.1%), Construction (8.9%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (8.2%). The industries that grew the most in 2015–16 were Information media and telecommunications (13.1%), Administrative and support services (7.1%) and Health care and social assistance (5.8%). The industry with the largest decline was Wholesale trade, declining by 0.4%.

For the total of all industries, over the past six years there has been growth of 791,700 in employed persons (6.8%). Of this growth, the industries that had the largest number of employed persons were Health care and social assistance (37.8%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (22.3%).

Hours actually worked have continued to grow steadily from 2010–11 through to 2015–16, with growth in the total for all industries of 2.0% in 2015–16. Hours paid for have also continued to grow steadily, from the lowest growth of 0.3% in 2013–14 to the highest growth of 2.5% in 2015–16.

Over the same period, the industries with the largest shares of hours actually worked were Health care and social assistance (11.2%), Construction (9.9%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (9.3%). Industries with the strongest growth in hours actually worked in 2015–16 were Information media and telecommunications (12.1%), Arts and recreation services (8.3%) and Health care and social assistance (7.0%). The industry with the largest decline was Wholesale trade, declining by 3.7%.

Over the past six years the industries with the largest growth in total labour income were Rental, hiring and real estate services (38.7%), Mining (32.4%) and Education and training (32.1%). The industries with the largest increases in labour income in 2015–16 were Rental, hiring and real estate services (11.5%), Arts and recreation services (10.6%) and Agriculture, forestry and fishing (7.5%). The industry with the largest decline was Mining, declining by 0.8%.

Over the past six years, the number of total jobs in the Mining industry reached a peak of 202,900 in 2012–13. The number of total jobs then decreased in 2013–14 by 4.5% to 193,900, with a further decline of 9.0% in 2014–15 to 176,400 total jobs. Total jobs then increased by 2.3% in 2015–16 to 180,500.

These movements are mirrored by the number of employed persons and the hours paid for over the past six years. These movements are also reflected in compensation of employees, with peaks of 29,728.4 million dollars in 2012–13 and 29,843.2 million dollars in 2013–14. Compensation of employees then fell in both 2014–15 and 2015–16, by 3.1% and 3.5% respectively, to 27,906.6 million dollars in 2015–16.

The number of total jobs in the Construction industry decreased by 1.9% or 20,500 jobs from 2010–11 to 2011–12. Since this decrease, total jobs have steadily increased each year by 0.6% in 2012–13, 1.0% in 2013–14, 1.1% in 2014–15 and 1.4% in 2015–16. The number of total jobs in this industry for 2015–16 was 1.1 million.

The number of employed persons also saw a decrease of 2.2% or 23,200 persons from 2010–11 to 2011–12. Since this decrease, like the number of total jobs, there have been steady increases in employed persons over the past four years.

The increased number of total jobs and employment for the earlier years were influenced by significant investment in the Mining industry. This resources investment boom early in the period was also reflected in the Construction industry, with an increase in infrastructure such as roads and bridges to meet the boom in mining activity in earlier years.

Earlier in the time series, the industries with the highest growth in total jobs from 2010–11 to 2011–12 were Mining (20.6%), Wholesale trade (3.6%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (3.5%). The industries with a decline in growth for the same period were Construction (1.9%) and Manufacturing (1.4%).

The industries with highest growth in total jobs in 2015–16 were all service industries, made up of Information media and telecommunications (13.1%), Administrative and support services (7.3%), Health care and social assistance (6.1%),and Accommodation and food services (5.8%). This is contrary to two of the major goods industries of Manufacturing, which experienced a decline of 0.3% in total jobs in 2015–16, and Wholesale trade showing a decline of 0.2% in total jobs in 2015–16.

This publication contains experimental estimates from the Australian Labour Account. For more information on Labour Accounts, refer to the Labour Account: Concepts Sources and Methods. The ABS welcomes comments on the new methodologies and the usefulness of these estimates.

If you are interested in contributing to the ABS review, please contact the Household Income and Labour Market Statistics director on 02 6252 7988 or labour.statistics@abs.gov.au.

This release previously used catalogue number 6150.0.55.001.