6209.0 - Labour Mobility, Australia, Feb 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/08/2004   
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MEDIA RELEASE

August 25, 2004
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
138/2004

Almost one in four workers new to job

Almost a quarter (23%) of the 9.4 million people aged 15-69 years working in February 2004 had been in their current job for less than one year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The 'accommodation, cafes and restaurants' industry group had the highest proportion (34%) of its workers employed in their current job for less than one year, while the 'education' industry had the lowest (14%).

Of the 10.2 million people who worked at some time during the year ending February 2004, almost 1.5 million (14%) changed their employer and/or their locality of work at least once during that period. This level of job mobility has remained relatively steady over the last decade.

The majority (83%) of people who were job mobile changed their employer, either with or without changing their locality of work. The other 17% changed their locality, while still working for the same employer.

Young people were more job mobile than older age groups. Almost a quarter (24%) of workers aged 20-24 years were job mobile, compared with less than one in ten (9%) workers aged 45-54 years.

More than 2.1 million people ceased a job during the year ending February 2004. Of those people who ceased a job, most (69%) did so voluntarily.

Reasons given by people for the voluntary cessation of work included leaving their job to pursue a new business or better job, to enter retirement, for family reasons, or because they were dissatisfied with their current working arrangements and pay.

Temporary or seasonal work and retrenchment were the main reasons people ceased their job on an involuntarily basis.

Further details are in Labour Mobility, Australia, February 2004 (cat. no. 6209.0).