Slow growth in payroll jobs

Media Release

Released

13/10/2022

Source

Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia, Week ending 17 September 2022

Payroll jobs rose 0.3 per cent in the month to 17 September 2022, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said: “Payroll jobs have continued to grow slowly across 2022, with average monthly growth over the past six months of 0.3 per cent. This reflects the sustained tightness in labour market conditions across the country.

“The growth in the month to mid-September 2022 varies from previous years, due to differing labour market conditions at the time. In mid-September 2021, payroll jobs fell due to Delta-related lockdowns in some jurisdictions, and rose in mid-September 2020 reflecting the recovery from initial pandemic impacts.”

Payroll jobs indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020 (week 10 in 2020)
	2020 (pts)	2021 (pts)	2022 (pts)
week 0	92.7	96.1	99.3
week 1	95.2	97.3	99.9
week 2	96.7	99.5	102.1
week 3	97.5	100.5	103.6
week 4	98.0	101.0	104.4
week 5	98.7	101.6	104.9
week 6	99.1	102.3	105.5
week 7	99.5	102.6	105.2
week 8	99.5	103.0	105.1
week 9	99.9	103.2	105.4
week 10	100.0	103.6	106.4
week 11	99.0	103.8	106.8
week 12	95.5	103.6	106.7
week 13	93.0	102.8	106.5
week 14	91.7	102.4	106.6
week 15	91.7	102.6	105.9
week 16	92.2	102.9	105.5
week 17	92.7	103.3	106.1
week 18	93.4	103.7	106.6
week 19	94.1	103.9	106.9
week 20	94.5	104.1	107.2
week 21	94.8	103.8	107.3
week 22	95.8	103.4	107.2
week 23	96.2	103.6	107.6
week 24	96.3	103.8	108.1
week 25	96.2	103.5	108.8
week 26	97.5	103.4	109.1
week 27	98.6	104.2	109.5
week 28	98.7	103.9	108.7
week 29	98.9	102.7	108.5
week 30	99.2	102.9	108.7
week 31	99.2	102.7	108.1
week 32	99.1	102.6	108.4
week 33	99.2	101.9	108.3
week 34	99.3	101.4	108.3
week 35	99.6	101.5	108.2
week 36	100.0	102.1	108.4
week 37	100.2	102.5	108.6
week 38	100.0	102.3
week 39	99.3	102.0
week 40	99.5	102.4
week 41	100.4	104.1
week 42	100.7	105.2
week 43	100.9	106.1
week 44	101.3	106.7
week 45	102.0	107.1
week 46	102.4	107.6
week 47	102.7	107.9
week 48	103.2	108.2
week 49	103.3	108.2
week 50	102.6	107.4
week 51	98.9	103.7

Payroll jobs indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020 (week 10 in 2020)

["","2020","2021","2022"]

[["week 0","week 1","week 2","week 3","week 4","week 5","week 6","week 7","week 8","week 9","week 10","week 11","week 12","week 13","week 14","week 15","week 16","week 17","week 18","week 19","week 20","week 21","week 22","week 23","week 24","week 25","week 26","week 27","week 28","week 29","week 30","week 31","week 32","week 33","week 34","week 35","week 36","week 37","week 38","week 39","week 40","week 41","week 42","week 43","week 44","week 45","week 46","week 47","week 48","week 49","week 50","week 51"],[[92.700000000000003],[95.200000000000003],[96.700000000000003],[97.5],[98],[98.700000000000003],[99.099999999999994],[99.5],[99.5],[99.900000000000006],[100],[99],[95.5],[93],[91.700000000000003],[91.700000000000003],[92.200000000000003],[92.700000000000003],[93.400000000000006],[94.099999999999994],[94.5],[94.799999999999997],[95.799999999999997],[96.200000000000003],[96.299999999999997],[96.200000000000003],[97.5],[98.599999999999994],[98.700000000000003],[98.900000000000006],[99.200000000000003],[99.200000000000003],[99.099999999999994],[99.200000000000003],[99.299999999999997],[99.599999999999994],[100],[100.2],[100],[99.299999999999997],[99.5],[100.40000000000001],[100.7],[100.90000000000001],[101.3],[102],[102.40000000000001],[102.7],[103.2],[103.3],[102.59999999999999],[98.900000000000006]],[[96.099999999999994],[97.299999999999997],[99.5],[100.5],[101],[101.59999999999999],[102.3],[102.59999999999999],[103],[103.2],[103.59999999999999],[103.8],[103.59999999999999],[102.8],[102.40000000000001],[102.59999999999999],[102.90000000000001],[103.3],[103.7],[103.90000000000001],[104.09999999999999],[103.8],[103.40000000000001],[103.59999999999999],[103.8],[103.5],[103.40000000000001],[104.2],[103.90000000000001],[102.7],[102.90000000000001],[102.7],[102.59999999999999],[101.90000000000001],[101.40000000000001],[101.5],[102.09999999999999],[102.5],[102.3],[102],[102.40000000000001],[104.09999999999999],[105.2],[106.09999999999999],[106.7],[107.09999999999999],[107.59999999999999],[107.90000000000001],[108.2],[108.2],[107.40000000000001],[103.7]],[[99.299999999999997],[99.900000000000006],[102.09999999999999],[103.59999999999999],[104.40000000000001],[104.90000000000001],[105.5],[105.2],[105.09999999999999],[105.40000000000001],[106.40000000000001],[106.8],[106.7],[106.5],[106.59999999999999],[105.90000000000001],[105.5],[106.09999999999999],[106.59999999999999],[106.90000000000001],[107.2],[107.3],[107.2],[107.59999999999999],[108.09999999999999],[108.8],[109.09999999999999],[109.5],[108.7],[108.5],[108.7],[108.09999999999999],[108.40000000000001],[108.3],[108.3],[108.2],[108.40000000000001],[108.59999999999999],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null]]]

[]

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Week 0 represents the week ending 4 January 2020, 2 January 2021 and 1 January 2022. Week 37 represents the week ending 19 September 2020, 18 September 2021 and 17 September 2022.

Industries

In the month to mid-September 2022, payroll jobs rose in 7 of 19 industries. The largest rises were in Education and training (up 2.0 per cent), Retail trade (up 1.4 per cent) and the Professional, scientific and technical services industries (up 1.1 per cent). Together, these industries account for almost 90 per cent of the growth in payroll jobs during this period.

These increases are likely to be largely seasonal and follow payroll jobs growth in 2020.

Over the same month in 2020, payroll jobs growth in Retail trade was particularly strong, reflecting its rapid recovery from the initial pandemic outbreak.

Month change to mid-September, payroll jobs in selected industries
	2020 (%)	2021 (%)	2022 (%)
All industries	1.0	0.5	0.3
Professional, scientific and technical services	1.4	1.7	1.1
Retail trade	3.0	0.1	1.4
Education and training	2.1	-0.1	2.0

Month change to mid-September, payroll jobs in selected industries

["","2020","2021","2022"]

[["All industries","Professional, scientific and technical services","Retail trade","Education and training"],[[1],[1.3999999999999999],[3],[2.1000000000000001]],[[0.5],[1.7],[0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001]],[[0.29999999999999999],[1.1000000000000001],[1.3999999999999999],[2]]]

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Month change represents the month up to the week ending 19 September 2020, 18 September 2021 and 17 September 2022.

The remaining 12 industries saw falls in payroll jobs over the month to mid-September 2022, with the largest in the Arts and recreation services (down 1.3 per cent) and the Transport, postal and warehousing industries (down 1.0 per cent).

States and territories

“Payroll jobs rose in every state and territory in the month to mid-September 2022, with the largest rises in the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia (up 0.7 and 0.6 per cent),” Mr Jarvis said.

The Education and training industry accounted for more than a third of the payroll jobs increase over the month to mid-September across all states and territories, reflecting the seasonal high in payroll jobs ahead of the Spring school holidays.

Seasonality in wages

Wages paid rose 2.7 per cent in the month to mid-September 2022. The seasonal increase in wages was largely driven by the payment of periodic bonuses in multiple industries around September each year. As Single Touch Payroll data does not currently separate bonuses and other types of payment such as overtime from wages and salaries, it is not possible to identify underlying growth in core wages and salaries in these statistics.

The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the Australian Taxation Office in enabling the ABS to produce weekly insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.

Media notes

There have been five weeks since the last reference period of 13 August 2022. Monthly change is the four-week period between the weeks ending 20 August and 17 September 2022.
Payroll jobs are not seasonally adjusted, which generally requires at least three years of data. The longstanding seasonally adjusted Labour Force statistics series can aid in the interpretation of labour statistics across periods of greater seasonality, through the COVID-19 period.
Payroll jobs are predominantly employee jobs paid through payrolls. Some industries, such as Agriculture, forestry and fishing and Construction, have high proportions of owner managers who are not included in payroll reporting. For more information, see the Scope and coverage section in the Methodology of this release.
In each release, as more complete data are received, payroll jobs and wages estimates are revised. The magnitude of revisions can vary at some points of the year, such as the end of the financial year and calendar year in line with changes in the reporting activity of businesses.
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
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