LABOUR FORCE

Job Vacancies
Employed Persons
Unemployment
Participation rate
Employed Persons by Industry

JOB VACANCIES

In original terms, Queensland's total number of job vacancies decreased to 37,300 in November 2007 from 38,500 in August 2007. The November 2007 vacancies were 3.9% lower than in November 2006. Public sector vacancies accounted for just over one in ten (12%) of total job vacancies in November 2007.

Further information on this topic can be accessed at Job Vacancies, Australia (cat. no. 6354.0). This publication is released quarterly.EMPLOYED PERSONS

In December 2007, total employment in Queensland in trend terms rose to 2,159,900 persons. Full-time employed persons (1,567,300) accounted for 73% of total employed persons. Males accounted for 65% of full-time employed persons and 55% of total employed persons.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The trend estimate of the number of unemployed persons in Queensland for December 2007 was 83,200 persons. This equates to an unemployment rate of 3.7%. Since July 2004, in trend estimate terms, the Queensland unemployment rate has been lower than the national unemployment rate.

Females accounted for 50% of the number of unemployed persons in Queensland in December 2007 and had an unemployment rate of 4.1%. The corresponding male unemployment rate was 3.4%. Females have had higher rates of unemployment than their male counterparts since May 2002.

PARTICIPATION RATE

The trend estimate of the participation rate for Queensland in December 2007 was 67.3%. This rate is 3.4% higher than December 1997. Queensland has consistently recorded higher participation rates than the national average.

For Queensland, the trend participation rate for females has been over 60% since July 2006, and was 60.7% in December 2007. This is an 8.8% increase on the female participation rate recorded in December 1997. The male participation rate in December 2007 was 73.9%, a decrease of -0.6% on the rate recorded for December 1997.

Further information on these topics can be accessed at Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) and Labour Force, Australia, Spreadsheets (cat. no. 6202.0.55.001) or ring the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. These publications are released monthly.EMPLOYED PERSONS BY INDUSTRY

There were 2,158,700 employed persons in Queensland in November 2007. The industries with the most number of employed persons were Retail trade (346,600), Property and business services (252,100) and Construction (236,500). Those industries employing the least number of persons included Electricity, gas and water (16,200), Communication services (34,900) and Mining (40,000).

The five major industries with the most number of employed persons accounted for over half (58%) of Queensland's employed.

In the year November 2006 to November 2007, the greatest increase of employed persons occurred in Communication services (26%). In the same period, Finance and Insurance had the greatest decrease in employed persons with a reduction of 16%.

Note: Employed persons by industry has been reported in original terms and cannot be directly compared to the trend estimates reported for Labour Force.

For more detailed information on this topic, please refer to Labour Force , Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003) or ring the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. This publication is released quarterly.