Jobs in Australia

Latest release

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

Reference period
2022-23
Release date and time
14/11/2025 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

During 2022-23:

  • There were 23.6 million jobs, up 3.8% on 2021-22.
  • The Local Government Area with the highest number of jobs was Brisbane, with 1,262,500 jobs.
  • 6.9 million jobs were held by migrants (who have arrived in Australia since 2000).

Publications based on the Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED)

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

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, 2022-23
 NumberChange in last yearChange since 2018-19
Jobs23,581,2003.8%17.1%
 Held by men11,856,5003.6%14.3%
 Held by women11,709,1004.1%19.9%
Employed persons15,506,9003.9%9.8%
Median employee income per job (duration adjusted) (a)$50,5615.8%11.3%
Total employment income$1,145 Billion8.9%29.5%

Note: A person can hold several jobs during the year, either concurrently (as a multiple job-holder) or consecutively. See methodology section for further information on how jobs are calculated in Jobs in Australia. 

  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 2022-23, there were 23.6 million jobs:

  • 21.3 million (90.1%) jobs were worked by employees (including owner managers of incorporated enterprises) and 2.3 million (9.9%) jobs were worked by owner managers of unincorporated enterprises.
  • 18.5 million (78.3%) were private sector jobs and 3.6 million (15.4%) were public sector jobs. Some job records had missing or unknown sector information and therefore these percentages do not add to 100.

Employed people

During 2022-23:

  • There were 15.5 million employed people, up 3.9% on 2021-22.
  • The cohort of people aged 25-29 years had the highest number of jobs (3.1 million).

Multiple job-holders

During 2022-23, there were 3.1 million multiple job-holders:

  • 2.1 million multiple job-holders with 2 concurrent jobs
  • 0.6  million multiple job-holders with 3 concurrent jobs
  • 0.3  million multiple job-holders with 4 or more concurrent jobs.

(a)  In the LEED, a multiple job-holder is a person who held more than one employee job at the same time, rather than one after another, during the year. 

Employee income

In 2022-23, 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:

  • $50,561 for all people
  • $61,589 for males
  • $41,182 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 2022-23, the industries with the largest share of jobs were:

  • Health care and social assistance (13.2%)
  • Administrative and support services (9.4%)
  • Retail trade (9.1%).
  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 2022-23, the most common occupations were:

  • Professionals (19.5%)
  • Managers (11.1%)
  • Community and personal service workers (10.8%).

For both men and women the most common occupation was Professionals. More women than men were Professionals (1.7 million compared with 1.3 million).

Business size

During 2022-23:

  • 6.6 million jobs (28.7%) were worked in small businesses (less than 20 employees).
  • 5.3 million jobs (22.6%) were worked in medium businesses (between 20 and 199 employees).
  • 10.2 million jobs (43.2%) 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 2022-23, the number of jobs was largest in:

  • New South Wales (7.3 million jobs)
  • Victoria (6.1 million jobs)
  • Queensland (4.9 million jobs).
  1. Refers to the state or territory of usual residence of the job-holders

Regional areas

Change in jobs in Local Government Areas (LGAs)

This interactive map shows percentage changes in the number of jobs across Local Government Areas (LGAs) between 2021-22 and 2022-23. LGAs are grouped into five data classes of job growth rates:

  • 15% and higher (very dark midnight green)
  • 10% to less than 15% (dark midnight green)
  • 5% to less than 10% (normal midnight green)
  • 0% to less than 5% (light midnight green)
  • Declined (very light midnight green)
  • Not published (dark grey)

The map also displays data on percentage change in the number of employed persons, the number of jobs and employed persons and median duration-adjusted income per job for 2022-23.

The map shows that the top five LGAs(a) with the highest growth rate of jobs between 2021-22 and 2022-23 were:

  • East Arnhem in Northern Territory (80.5%)
  • Exmouth in Western Australia (31.2%)
  • MacDonnell in Northern Territory (20.7%)
  • Melbourne in Victoria (18.8%)
  • Perth in Western Australia (18.6%).

The top five LGAs (a) with the highest median job income (b) in 2022-23 were:

  • Roxby Downs in South Australia ($87,450)
  • Ashburton Western Australia ($87,409)
  • Weipa in Queensland ($82,648)
  • North Sydney in New South Wales ($78,915)
  • Port Hedland in Western Australia ($73,676).

(a) Excluding LGAs with less than 1,000 employed people.

(b) This is duration adjusted job income, an analytical measure of employee income per job that seeks to put all jobs onto a comparable full-year duration basis.

Change in jobs in Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s)

This interactive map shows percentage changes in the number of jobs across Local Government Areas (LGAs) between 2021-22 and 2022-23. LGAs are grouped into five data classes of job growth rates:

  • 15% and higher (very dark midnight green)
  • 10% to less than 15% (dark midnight green)
  • 5% to less than 10% (normal midnight green)
  • 0% to less than 5% (light midnight green)
  • Declined (very light midnight green)
  • Not published (dark grey)

The map also displays data on percentage change in the number of employed persons, the number of jobs and employed persons and median duration-adjusted income per job for 2022-23.

The map shows that the top five SA2s(a) with the highest growth rate of jobs in 2022-23 were:

  • East Arnhem in Northern Territory (103.0%)
  • Taylor in Australian Capital Territory (64.5%)
  • Strathnairn in Australian Capital Territory (46.1%)
  • Port Melbourne Industrial in Victoria (39.6%)
  • Denman Prospect in Australian Capital Territory (35.9%).

The top five SA2s with the highest median job income (b) in 2022-23 were:

  • Barton in Australian Capital Territory ($99,050)
  • Kingston in Australian Capital Territory ($92,000)
  • Roxby Downs in South Australia ($87,450)
  • Ashburton in Western Australia ($87,409)
  • Googong in New South Wales ($84,402).

(a) Excluding SA2s with less than 1,000 employed people.

(b) This is duration adjusted job income, an analytical measure of employee income per job that seeks to put all jobs onto a comparable full-year duration basis.

Employed migrants

In this release, 'migrants' refers to temporary visa holders, or permanent migrants who arrived in Australia since 1 January 2000. Refer to the Methodology for more information.

During 2022-23:

  • 6.9 million jobs were held by migrants.
  • 4.0 million (58.4%) jobs were held by permanent migrants and 2.8 million (40.5%) by temporary visa holders.
  • 5.7 million (83.0%) were private sector jobs and 727,100 (10.6%) were public sector jobs.
  • 1.8 million migrant jobs (26.6%) were held in small businesses (less than 20 employees).
  • 1.6 million migrant jobs (23.7%) were held in medium businesses (between 20 and 199 employees).
  • 3.0 million migrant jobs (43.3%) were held in 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
Jobs6,850,200
 Held by men3,501,100
 Held by women3,348,800
By sector 
 Private sector5,684,000
 Public sector727,100
By employer size 
 1-19 employees1,821,300
 20-199 employees1,623,400
 200 or more employees2,966,300

 

Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, the number of jobs held by migrants:

  • increased from 6.2 million to 6.9 million jobs (up 9.9%)
  • increased for permanent migrants by 189,100 jobs (up 5.0%)
  • increased for temporary visa holders by 417,900 jobs (up 17.7%).
Migrant jobs(a) by visa group for 2018-19(b), 2021-22 and 2022-23
 2018-192021-222022-23
Permanent visas   
          Permanent skilled1,712,700 2,225,4002,377,200
          Family784,400 1,099,9001,134,300
          Humanitarian179,100 267,400279,100
          Permanent other218,900 219,500210,500
Total permanent 2,895,000 3,812,1004,001,200
Temporary visas   
          Temporary skilled111,000 90,200110,700
          Student476,100 489,300749,900
          Temporary graduate152,500 190,200355,900
          Working holiday maker377,900 79,500216,500
          Temporary other50,200 111,100285,900
          Bridging visas238,700 631,900272,200
          NZ citizen (subclass 444)699,000 764,200783,200
Total temporary 2,105,400 2,356,4002,774,300
Total(c)5,046,900 6,235,6006,850,200

a. Each figure in this table represents a count of migrant jobs.
b. Data for 2018-19 is presented for comparison.
c. Includes former visa holders who attained Australia citizenship, but their most recent visa could not be determined. Refer to the 'Australian citizen' group in the methodology page.

 

During 2022-23, the jobs held by migrants were most commonly in the following industries:

  • Health care and social assistance (15.5% or 1.1 million migrant jobs)
  • Administrative and support services (13.5% or 926,600 migrant jobs)
  • Accommodation and food services (11.6% or 797,300 migrant jobs).

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, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 2. Employee jobs and employee income by sex, age, employer characteristics and geography, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 3. Employee jobs and income, by industry and geography, 2022-23

Table 4. Multiple jobs holders and employment income, by sex, age, concurrent job characteristics and geography, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 5. Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises and income, by sex, age, business characteristics and geography, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 6. Employed persons and employment income by sex, age, occupation, job holding characteristics and geography, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 7. New South Wales spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 8. Victoria spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 9. Queensland spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 10. South Australia spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 11. Western Australia spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 12. Tasmania spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 13. Northern Territory spotlights by local government areas, 2022-23

Table 14. Australian Capital Territory spotlight, 2022-23

Table 15. Summary statistics for all jobs, employee jobs and employed persons, 2011-12 to 2022-23

Table 16. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and age, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 17. Migrants, jobs and employment income by sex, state and territory, industry, and visa group, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 18. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and institutional sector, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 19. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and type of legal organisation, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 20. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and job duration, 2018-19 to 2022-23

Table 21. Migrants, jobs and employment income by arrival group, sex and business employment size, 2018-19 to 2022-23

All datacubes

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6160.0.

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