Seasonal fall in payroll jobs around Easter
Payroll jobs fell 0.6 per cent in the month to 13 April 2024, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "The fall in payroll jobs to mid-April followed the usual seasonal pattern around the Easter holiday period.
“While this seasonal fall around Easter was similar to what we’ve seen in previous years, we continue to see slower annual growth in 2023-24 than in 2022-23 when the labour market was particularly tight.
“Comparing between Easters, payroll jobs grew by 2.2 per cent from Easter 2023 to Easter 2024, down from a growth rate of 6.0 per cent between Easter 2022 and 2023," Mr Jarvis said.
Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.
Mid-Jan represents the week ending 16 January 2021, 15 January 2022, 14 January 2023 and 13 January 2024
Mid-Apr represents the week ending 17 April 2021, 16 April 2022, 15 April 2023 and 13 April 2024.
Mid-Jul represents the week ending 18 July 2020, 17 July 2021, 16 July 2022 and 15 July 2023.
Mid-Oct represents the week ending 17 October 2020, 16 October 2021, 15 October 2022 and 14 October 2023.
Seasonal impact of Easter and Autumn school holidays
The timing of Easter and school holidays changes each year and should be considered when comparing seasonal changes in weekly figures for March and April across years.
In 2024, Easter fell a week earlier than in 2023 and two weeks earlier than in 2022. There were also some differences in the timing of school holidays for some states and territories.
A seasonal fall in payroll jobs around Easter was seen in all industries except for Mining. Administrative and support services, Other services, Accommodation and food services, Wholesale trade and Education and training had the largest share of the fall in payroll jobs this month.
Industries grouped into ‘Remaining industries’ exclude Mining, which rose over the month.
Payroll jobs fell across most states and territories
Payroll jobs fell between mid-March and mid-April in all states and territories except for South Australia, which had its school holidays in the second half of April. The largest percentage falls were in Victoria (-0.9 per cent), New South Wales (-0.7 per cent), and Queensland (-0.7 per cent).
The timing of school holidays varied across the states and territories, with Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia completing their Autumn break by the week ending 13 April 2024, and others starting their breaks later.
The seasonal effects associated with school holidays later in April will be seen in next month’s release.
Media notes
- Payroll jobs are not seasonally adjusted, which generally requires at least three years of reasonably stable data. The longstanding seasonally adjusted Labour Force statistics series can aid in the interpretation of labour statistics across periods of greater seasonality, including 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. See the Scope and coverage section in the Methodology of this release for more information.
- In each release, payroll job estimates are revised as more complete data are received. The magnitude of revisions can vary at some points of the year, such as the start and end of the financial and calendar year in line with changes in the reporting activity of businesses.
- The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the ATO in enabling the ABS to produce weekly insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.
- When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
- For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
- Access official, high-resolution images of ABS media spokespeople, including Bjorn Jarvis, from our image library.
- Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.