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 35,600 in May 2007 from 38,700 in February 2007. The May 2007 vacancies were 3.3% lower than in May 2006. Public sector vacancies accounted for around one in ten (11%) of total job vacancies in May 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 June 2007, total employment in Queensland in trend terms rose to 2,134,500 persons. Full-time employed persons (1,566,300) 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 continues to fall and in June 2007 was 76,300 persons. This equates to an unemployment rate of 3.4%. Since July 2004, the Queensland unemployment rate has been lower than the national unemployment rate.

Females accounted for 51% of the number of unemployed persons in Queensland in June 2007 and had an unemployment rate of 3.9%. The corresponding male unemployment rate was 3.1%. 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 June 2007 was 67.2%, the lowest it has been since December 2006. This rate is 4.1% higher than June 1997. Queensland has consistently recorded higher participation rates than the national average and this gap has been consistently broader over the last twelve months, being 2.2 percentage points in June 2007.

For Queensland, the trend participation rate for females has been over 60% for the last twelve months, and fell slightly to 60.3% in June 2007. This is a 9.1% increase on the female participation rate recorded in June 1997. The male participation rate in June 2007 was 74.2%, an increase of 0.3% on the rate recorded for June 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 2,127,300 employed persons in Queensland in May 2007. The industries with the most number of employed persons were Retail trade (328,700), Property and business services (249,700) and Construction (229,100). Those industries employing the least number of persons included Electricity, gas and water (16,400), Communication services (31,100) and Mining (37,100).

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

In the year May 2006 to May 2007, the greatest increase of employed persons occurred in Communication services (27%) and Cultural and recreational services (25%). In the same period, Electricity, gas and water supply and Personal and other services had the greatest decrease in employed persons with reductions of 18% and 14%, respectively.

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.