Modelled state and territory industry estimates: jobs and hours worked

Indicative state and territory level jobs and hours worked by industry estimates, modelled using Australian Labour Account data

Released
5/09/2025
Released
05/09/2025 11:30am AEST

Background

This article presents indicative state and territory level industry division estimates for the Labour Account jobs and hours worked series. This is the fourth release of the modelled state and territory level estimates, links to previously published state estimates can be accessed from the Further information section at the end of this article.

The estimates produced have been modelled by applying proportional factors to existing balanced national level Labour Accounts data. This proportionally allocated state-based Labour Account data provides useful insights into industries at the state and territory level.

Building a state and territory dimension directly into the compilation processes of the Labour Account is not yet feasible, given the limitations of both resourcing and data sources.

The Labour Account provides the best ABS industry estimates of employment, jobs and hours worked at the national level.

Method

The approach to proportionally allocate state and territory level industry division estimates involves constraining the number of jobs and hours actually worked to the national level industry totals of the Australian Labour Account. This means that the sum of all states and territories for a particular industry is equal to the Labour Account national estimate for that industry. As a result, the industry levels in each state and territory are heavily impacted by the Labour Account balancing process which reconciles household and business-based estimates of filled jobs.

More detail on the method used to derive these estimates is provided below.

Jobs

Hours worked

Revisions and changes

Updates since last article

Current and upcoming changes

The final release of Payroll Jobs was published on the 24th July, and included data up to the week ending 15th March. The indexes will be replaced with a new monthly Employee Jobs measure, available in the Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator from February 2026.

As Payroll Jobs is used to allocate filled jobs to state and territories for the latest periods, this article only includes data up to and including March quarter 2025.

The ABS will confirm any changes to the release timing and methodology for producing the modelled indicative state and territory job estimates ahead of the next release in 2026. 

New South Wales

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 4.6 million main jobs
  • 327,300 secondary jobs
  • 101,700 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 1.8 billion hours.

Victoria

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 3.8 million main jobs
  • 276,500 secondary jobs
  • 76,800 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 1.4 billion hours.

Queensland

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 3.1 million main jobs
  • 202,700 secondary jobs
  • 70,400 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 1.2 billion hours.

South Australia

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 1.0 million main jobs
  • 69,300 secondary jobs
  • 21,200 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 369.6 million hours.

Western Australia

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 1.6 million main jobs
  • 122,200 secondary jobs
  • 43,500 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 638.9 million hours.

Tasmania

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 319,500 main jobs
  • 24,000 secondary jobs
  • 5,300 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 106.8 million hours.

Northern Territory

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 147,400 main jobs
  • 13,300 secondary jobs
  • 5,200 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 56.6 million hours.

Australian Capital Territory

Jobs

In the March quarter 2025, there were:

  • 266,200 main jobs
  • 21,800 secondary jobs
  • 7,600 job vacancies.

Hours worked

In the March quarter 2025, the total number of hours actually worked was 100.1 million hours.

Data Downloads

The following spreadsheet contains indicative estimates of filled jobs, main jobs, secondary jobs, job vacancies, and hours actually worked by industry, for each state and territory, for the period September quarter 2011 to March quarter 2025.

State and territory jobs and hours worked, by industry, September quarter 2011 to March quarter 2025 (Pivot Table)

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