Payroll jobs rise into November
Payroll jobs rose 0.7 per cent in the month to 12 November 2022, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “The pace of growth in payroll jobs seen during 2022 continued into November. The slower growth rate this year continues to point to tightness in the labour market, coupled with disruptions from people being sick and the impact of major weather events.
“With almost three full years of payroll jobs data, we can see some of the recurring weekly seasonal changes in the labour market. The most recent changes in 2022 are more like 2020 than 2021, given the labour market was recovering from the Delta period lockdowns at this time last year.”
The latest data covers the period before the labour market hits its seasonal peak in payroll jobs every year, which is usually around the first half of December. That period will be covered in the next release.
Week 0 represents the week ending 4 January 2020, 2 January 2021 and 1 January 2022. Week 45 represents the week ending 14 November 2020, 13 November 2021 and 12 November 2022.
States and territories
Payroll jobs rose in all states and territories between mid-October and mid-November 2022, with the largest increase in South Australia (up 1.2 per cent) and the smallest in Queensland (up 0.2 per cent).
South Australia’s increase partly reflected the slightly later school term start, with payroll jobs in the Education and training industry accounting for over 40 per cent of the increase over the month.
Industries
Nationally, 10 out of 19 industries saw a rise in payroll jobs in the month to mid-November 2022. The Education and training industry rose 3.5 per cent and accounted for more than a third (42.7 per cent) of payroll job increases in the month to mid-November 2022.
The rise in payroll jobs in the Education and training industry in this period aligns with the seasonal pattern seen in previous years.
Week 0 represents the week ending 4 January 2020, 2 January 2021 and 1 January 2022. Outside of the Summer break, school holidays usually fall between Weeks 12-16 in Autumn, Weeks 25-29 in Winter, and Weeks 37-42 in Spring.
The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the Australian Taxation Office in enabling the ABS to produce weekly insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.
Media notes
- Payroll jobs are not seasonally adjusted, which generally requires at least three years of data. The longstanding seasonally adjusted Labour Force statistics series can aid in the interpretation of labour statistics across periods of greater seasonality, through the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Payroll jobs are predominantly employee jobs paid through payrolls. Some industries, such as Agriculture, forestry and fishing and Construction, have high proportions of owner managers who are not included in payroll reporting. For more information, see the Scope and coverage section in the Methodology of this release.
- In each release, as more complete data are received, payroll jobs and wages estimates are revised. The magnitude of revisions can vary at some points of the year, such as the end of the financial year and calendar year in line with changes in the reporting activity of businesses.
- To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our new Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment and Earnings data.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
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