Jobs in Australia

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Information about the number and nature of filled jobs and the people who hold them

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Reference period
2020-21 financial year
Released
6/12/2023
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Key statistics

During 2020-21:

  • There were 20.8 million jobs, up 4.1% on 2019-20
  • The LGA with the highest number of jobs was Brisbane, with 1,103,000 jobs
  • 5.5 million jobs were held by migrants (who have arrived in Australia since 2000)

Jobs in Australia (JIA), along with Personal Income in Australia (PIA), is one of two releases containing data from the Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED). The Jobs and Income of Employed Persons, 2020-21 TableBuilder product contains more detailed data from the LEED.

Geography

The latest version of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 has been implemented in this release, with data from 2016-17 onwards available on the new ASGS. Data on the previous version of ASGS is available in previous releases.

Revisions

Data from 2016-17 to 2019-20 has been reprocessed which has resulted in small differences to the historical data.

Guide to labour statistics

To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment data.

Jobs, employed persons and income, 2020-21
 NumberChange in last yearChange since 2016-17
Jobs20,811,9004.1%8.6%
 Held by men10,636,4003.2%6.8%
 Held by women10,160,8004.9%10.4%
Employed persons14,365,5000.6%6.1%
Median employee income per job (duration adjusted) (a)$47,7564.6%10.6%
Total employment income$975 Billion6.0%21.7%
  1. 'Duration adjusted' is an analytical measure of employee income per job that seeks to put all jobs onto a comparable full-year duration basis.
  1. Owner-managers of unincorporated enterprises.

Jobs

During 2020-21 there were 20.8 million jobs:

  • 18.6 million (89.4%) jobs were worked by employees (including owner managers of incorporated enterprises) and 2.2 million (10.6%) jobs were worked by owner managers of unincorporated enterprises
  • 16.0 million (76.9%) were private sector jobs and 3.3 million (15.9%) were public sector jobs. Some job records had missing or unknown sector information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100.

Quarterly change in jobs between 2018-19 and 2020-21 shows a seasonal pattern with a fall of jobs in September quarters and job growth in other quarters. An exception to this pattern is the job fall of 1.9% across Australia and 2% in Victoria in June quarter 2020 when COVID first impacted on the jobs data.

Between the June 2020 and September 2020 quarters, the number of jobs fell by 5.6%. Victoria recorded the largest fall in jobs (down 9.2%) among all states and territories.

Employed people

During 2020-21:

  • There were 14.4 million employed people, up 0.6% on 2019-20
  • The cohort of people aged 25-29 years had the highest number of jobs (2.7 million)

Employee income

In 2020-21, after adjusting for the duration of the job to put all jobs onto a comparable full-year duration basis, the median annual employee income per job was:

  • $47,756 for all people
  • $57,262 for males
  • $39,783 for females
  1. Employee income data are 'duration adjusted' - an analytical measure of employee income per job that seeks to put all jobs onto a comparable full-year duration basis.

Industry

During 2020-21, the industries with the largest share of jobs were:

  • Health care and social assistance (12.8%)
  • Administrative and support services (9.1%)
  • Retail trade (8.5%)
  1. Some jobs records had missing or unknown industry information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100

To learn more about the various ABS sources of industry data, see our Industry employment guide.

Occupation

During 2020-21, the most common occupations were:

  • Professionals (19.3%)
  • Managers (11.3%)
  • Clerical and administrative workers (10.9%)

For men, the most common occupation was Technicians and trades workers, while for women it was Professionals.

Business size

During 2020-21:

  • 6.2 million jobs (29.6%) were worked in small businesses (less than 20 employees)
  • 4.5 million jobs (21.6%) were worked in medium businesses (between 20 and 199 employees)
  • 8.7 million jobs (41.6%) were worked in large businesses (200 or more employees)

Some jobs records had missing or unknown business size information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100.

State and territory

During 2020-21, the number of jobs was largest in:

  • New South Wales (6.5 million jobs)
  • Victoria (5.3 million jobs)
  • Queensland (4.3 million jobs)
  1. Refers to the state or territory of usual residence of the job-holder

Regions

In 2020-21, the local government areas (LGAs) with the highest number of jobs in each state and territory were:

  • New South Wales: Blacktown (316,000 jobs)
  • Victoria: Casey (287,000 jobs)
  • Queensland: Brisbane (1,103,000 jobs)
  • South Australia: Onkaparinga (129,000 jobs)
  • Western Australia: Stirling (209,000 jobs)
  • Tasmania: Launceston (56,000 jobs)
  • Northern Territory: Darwin (90,000 jobs)

The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local governments. Data is available for SA3s and SA2s in the Data Downloads. 

  1. Refers to the Local Government Area of usual residence of the job-holder. Excludes Local Government Areas with less than 1,000 earners.
  2. The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local governments. 

In 2020-21, the LGAs with the highest median employee income per job in each state and territory were:

  • New South Wales: North Sydney ($77,486)
  • Victoria: Yarra ($61,536)
  • Queensland: Weipa ($73,044)
  • South Australia: Roxby Downs ($81,980)
  • Western Australia: Ashburton ($77,172) 
  • Tasmania: Clarence ($46,496)
  • Northern Territory: Darwin Waterfront Precinct ($85,902)
  1. Refers to the Local Government Area of usual residence of the job-holder. Excludes Local Government Areas with less than 1,000 earners.
  2. The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local governments. 

Employed migrants

In this release, 'migrants' refers to people who have arrived in Australia since January 2000, and includes permanent migrants that have become Australian citizens during this period. 

During 2020-21:

  • 5.5 million jobs were held by migrants.
  • 3.3 million (60%) jobs were held by permanent migrants, 2.2 million (39%) by temporary visa holders and 55,300 (1.0%) by migrants who had gained Australian citizenship.
  • 4.5 million (81.6%) were private sector jobs and 592,000 (10.7%) were public sector jobs.
  • 1.6 million migrant jobs (29%) were with small businesses (less than 20 employees).
  • 1.3 million migrant jobs (22.9%) were with medium businesses (between 20 and 199 employees).
  • 2.2 million migrant jobs (40.5%) were with large businesses (200 or more employees).

Some job records had missing or unknown sector or employer size information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100.

Jobs held by migrants
 Number
Jobs5,509,900
 Held by men2,894,400
 Held by women2,615,300
By sector 
 Private sector4,495,700
 Public sector592,000
By employer size 
 1-19 employees1,596,000
 20-199 employees1,260,100
 200 or more employees2,231,500

 

Between 2019-20 and 2020-21, the number of jobs held by migrants:

  • increased from 5.3 million to 5.5 million jobs (up 4.5%)
  • increased across all permanent migrant visa groups, particularly for permanent skilled migrants with an increase of 165,600 jobs (up 9.3%)
  • decreased for temporary skilled and student visa holders, with the largest decrease in jobs held by working holiday makers which fell by more than 180,000 jobs (down 53.5%)
Migrant jobs by visa group, 2019-20 and 2020-21
Visa group2019-202020-21
Permanent2,990,0003,304,400
Permanent Skilled1,782,7001,948,300
Permanent Family813,700929,300
Permanent Humanitarian183,900212,100
Permanent Other209,800214,900
Provisional175,200182,700
Australian Citizen51,90055,300
NZ citizen (subclass 444)681,100708,800
Temporary2,232,0002,150,200
Temporary Skilled115,40095,600
Temporary Student571,200521,600
Temporary Working Holiday Maker340,800158,600
Temporary Other52,60066,700
Bridging visas295,600416,200
Total5,274,0005,509,900

During 2020-21 the industries with the most jobs held by migrants were:

  • Health Care and Social Assistance (14.3% of migrants or 785,700 people)
  • Administrative and Support Services (13.6% of migrants or 747,000 people)
  • Accommodation and Food Services (10.6% of migrants or 584,200 people).

The Administrative and support services industry includes Labour supply services.

a. Some job records had missing or unknown industry information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100

Data downloads

Table 1. Jobs and employment income by sex, age, employer characteristics and geography, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 2. Employee jobs and employee income by sex, age, employer characteristics and geography, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 3. Employee jobs and income, by industry and geography, 2020-21

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Table 4. Multiple jobs holders and employment income, by sex, age, concurrent job characteristics and geography, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 5. Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises and income, by sex, age, business characteristics and geography, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 6. Employed persons and employment income by sex, age, occupation, job holding characteristics and geography, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 7. New South Wales spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 8. Victoria spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

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Table 9. Queensland spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

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Table 10. South Australia spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 11. Western Australia spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 12. Tasmania spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 13. Northern Territory spotlights by local government areas, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 14. Australian Capital Territory spotlight, 2020-21

Data files
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Table 15. Summary statistics for all jobs, employee jobs and employed persons, 2011-12 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 16. Quarterly employee jobs and employee income by sex, age, business characteristics and geography, 2018-19 and 2020-21

Data files
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Table 17. Quarterly employed persons and employee income by sex, age, occupation, industry of main job and geography, 2018-19 and 2020-21

Data files
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Table 18. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and age, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 19. Migrants, jobs and employment income by sex, state and territory, industry, and visa group, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 20. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and institutional sector, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 21. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and type of legal organisation, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 22. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and job duration, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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Table 23. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and business employment size, 2017-18 to 2020-21

Data files
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All data cubes

Data files
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Post-release changes

08/03/2024:

  • As a result of correcting a small number of records with missing sex information, updates have been made to the counts of jobs (and job income) by sex. This affects male and female totals, but not the overall totals. Updates have been made to the ‘Jobs, employed persons and income’ table, Graph 3: Number of jobs by age and sex, and Data download tables 1–2 and 7–17.
  • As a result of correcting a small number of records with missing industry, sex and state information, updates have been made to all migrant commentary, table: Jobs held by migrants, table: Migrant jobs by visa group 2019-20 and 2020-21, graph 9: Jobs held by migrants by industry, 2020-21, and data Download tables 18-23.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6160.0.

Methodology

Jobs in Australia methodology, 2020-21 financial year

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