Labour Account Australia

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The Australian Labour Account provides quarterly and annual time series for four quadrants: Jobs, People, Hours and Payments

Reference period
June 2021
Released
8/09/2021

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021:

  • Total jobs increased 262,200 (1.8%).
  • Filled jobs increased 167,300 (1.2%) to 14.4 million.
  • Multiple job holders increased 5.7%.
  • Secondary jobs increased 15,100 (1.4%).
  • Hours worked increased 1.8%.
  • Employed people increased 0.7% to 13.3 million.
 Seasonally Adjusted
Mar qtr 2021 to Jun qtr 2021
% change

Jun qtr 2020 to Jun qtr 2021
% change

Total Jobs 1.87.4
Filled Jobs1.25.6
Main Jobs1.23.9
Secondary Jobs1.432.6
Job Vacancies33.4189.0
Hours Actually Worked1.810.2
Average Hours Actually Worked Per Job0.64.3
Average Income Per Employed Person0.61.4

Data impacts and changes

Improving the estimation of short-term non-residents in the Labour Account

Continued suspension of public and private sector estimates

Review of seasonally adjusted series

Revisions this quarter and upcoming revisions

New summary spreadsheet and changes to file naming conventions

Jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021:

  • Filled jobs increased by 1.2%, following a 0.4% rise in the March quarter 2021. Filled jobs grew 5.6% through the year.
  • The number of main jobs increased by 152,200 (or 1.2%).
  • The number of multiple job holders increased by 5.7%.
  • The proportion of vacant jobs increased to 2.6%, from the 2.0% recorded in the March quarter 2021.

Total jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021, the total number of jobs increased by 262,200 (or 1.8%), made up of an increase of 94,900 job vacancies and an increase of 167,300 filled jobs.

Filled jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021, the number of filled jobs increased by 167,300 to 14.4 million. 

Filled jobs, by industry, Jun qtr 2021, seasonally adjusted
Filled Jobs ('000)Proportion of all Industries (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)457.93.2
Mining (B)181.21.3
Manufacturing (C)907.96.3
Electricity, gas, water and waste services (D)126.80.9
Construction (E)1,186.88.2
Wholesale trade (F)604.54.2
Retail trade (G)1,433.610.0
Accommodation and food services (H)1,095.47.6
Transport, postal and warehousing (I)637.44.4
Information media and telecommunications (J)173.51.2
Financial and insurance services (K)495.23.4
Rental, hiring and real estate services (L)292.62.0
Professional, scientific and technical services (M)1,270.48.8
Administrative and support services (N)964.66.7
Public administration and safety (O)743.65.2
Education and training (P)1,015.97.1
Health care and social assistance (Q)2,046.114.2
Arts and recreation services (R)212.11.5
Other services (S)541.83.8
Total All Industries14,387.5100.0
Change in filled jobs, by industry, Jun qtr 2021, seasonally adjusted
Quarterly change (%)Annual change (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)-0.4-3.0
Mining (B)0.70.3
Manufacturing (C)0.32.1
Electricity, gas, water and waste services (D)2.15.1
Construction (E)2.74.7
Wholesale trade (F)1.39.1
Retail trade (G)5.33.6
Accommodation and food services (H)1.917.2
Transport, postal and warehousing (I)0.26.3
Information media and telecommunications (J)-1.74.1
Financial and insurance services (K)2.40.1
Rental, hiring and real estate services (L)3.52.6
Professional, scientific and technical services (M)0.04.8
Administrative and support services (N)0.814.5
Public administration and safety (O)0.4-1.5
Education and training (P)0.8-1.5
Health care and social assistance (Q)-1.87.6
Arts and recreation services (R)5.123.2
Other services (S)3.710.0
Total All Industries1.25.6

Secondary jobs

Secondary jobs are where a person is working more than one job at the same time, and may consist of one or more additional jobs. These jobs can be held by people who have their main job in the same or a different industry. 

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021:

  • Secondary jobs increased by 15,100 (or 1.4%). 
  • The proportion of secondary jobs to filled jobs was 7.5% for both the March quarter 2021 and June quarter 2021.

The three industries with the highest number of secondary jobs were Administrative and support services, Health care and social assistance and Education and training.
 

Statistical discrepancy - Filled jobs

People

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021:

  • The total number of employed people increased by 0.7% to 13.3 million. 
  • There were 674,300 unemployed people, a decrease of 111,100 people from March quarter 2021.
  • There were 1,015,100 underemployed people, a decrease of 158,500 people from March quarter 2021.

The Labour Account produces the number of people employed from an industry perspective. As a result, the sum of employed people for each industry division does not equal the total number of people employed in the whole economy, given some people are employed in multiple industries.

The three industries with the highest number of employed people in the June quarter 2021 were Health care and social assistance, Retail trade and Professional, scientific and technical services.

Hours

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021, the total number of hours actually worked increased by 94.2 million hours (or 1.8%) to 5.4 billion hours.

The three industries with the highest number of hours actually worked in the June quarter 2021 were Health care and social assistance, Professional, scientific and technical services and Construction.

Average hours worked per job is the hours actually worked divided by all filled jobs.

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021, average hours worked per job increased by 0.6% to 375 hours. 

Payments

The Labour Account Payments quadrant presents the costs incurred by enterprises in employing labour, and the income received by people from its provision. Total income consists of compensation of employees and labour income from self-employment. The addition of other related costs to employers to total income will derive total labour costs.

In seasonally adjusted terms for the June quarter 2021:

  • Total labour income increased by $3,606 million (or 1.3%) to $275,287 million. 
  • The average labour income per employed person increased by 0.6% to $20,704.
  • Total compensation of employees increased by 1.8% to $251,044 million.
  • Labour income from self-employment decreased by 2.9% to $24,243 million.
  • Total labour costs increased by $11,755 million (4.1%) to $295,373 million. 

The three industries with the highest total labour income in the June quarter 2021 were Health care and social assistance, Professional, scientific and technical services and Construction.

Data downloads

Labour Account Australia, Upcoming changes to spreadsheet names

Provides a concordance table between the current and upcoming time series spreadsheet file names.

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6150.0.55.003.

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