Complete history of regional labour force statistics

Provides a complete history of regional labour force statistics published from the Labour Force Survey

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Released
22/10/2026
Source
Regional Labour Force, September 2026
Release date and time
22/10/2026 11:30am AEDT

Introduction

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has collected regional labour force data in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) since 1982. This data has been published across a number of different products over the last 40 years and this article provides a complete history of these publications and where they can be found. This article also provides information about the different geographical classifications and standards under which the data has been published.

Today, all of the regional labour force data collected since October 1982 is available in the Longitudinal Labour Force microdata product and can be accessed via DataLab.

Information Papers

The release of regional labour force estimates from the LFS was first announced in an information paper published on 18 April 1985. New issues of this information paper were published with each major revision to the geographical boundaries of regional labour force statistics.

Classifications

Since February 2014, the ABS has published regional labour force statistics on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), with estimates available back to October 1998. 

Historical regional labour force statistics prior to October 1998 are only available on the preceeding Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) 

Maps

Maps have been provided to show the geographical boundaries of labour force regions during different points in time

Publications

Between 1985 and 1988, regional labour force statistics were published separately by the ABS state offices.

From 1988 to 2001, regional labour force statistics were largely incorporated into the main labour force publications produced by each state.

Between 1992 and 1997, a special report of regional labour force statistics across all states was produced and was available on request or as a subscription.

From 1997 to 2003, the special report was incorporated into a product of selected summary tables from the LFS. This data was also available electronically via an early online service and remained available through to 2005.

Since 2005, regional labour force statistics were available in the Detailed Labour Force publication until it was discontinued in 2026.

As regional labour force products were superseded and discontinued over time, they were archived in the historical labour force publication.

Microfiche

Between February 1978 and September 1982, some limited regional labour force data were made available for three major cities - Newcastle, Wollongong and Geelong - and were published on microfiche.

Modelled labour market regions

The ABS ceased publishing direct survey estimates of regional labour force statistics in December 2025. These were replaced by modelled regional labour force estimates which were first published in the March 2024 issue of Labour Force, Detailed.

The release of modelled regional labour force statistics was supported by a number of articles and information papers. 

Direct estimates of regional labour force statistics remain exclusively available from the LFS microdata products

Other data sources

Regional labour force statistics are also available from other data sources