Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates

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Experimental estimates of quarterly tourism employment and jobs to help explain the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism activity.

Reference period

June 2020

Released

25/09/2020

View all releases

Release date and time

25/09/2020 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In June quarter 2020, there were 611,700 tourism filled jobs: This represents

a decrease of 15.1% (-109,000) from June quarter 2019 compared to a 5.1% (-736,400) fall in the whole economy
a decrease of 12.9% (-90,800) from March quarter 2020 compared to a 6.1% (-877,700) fall in the whole economy
the lowest number of tourism filled jobs since June quarter 2014
4.5% of filled jobs in the economy, the lowest proportion on record

Movement in tourism filled jobs by tourism industry, percentage change, original series (a)
	Mar-19 to Jun-19	Jun-19 to Sep-19	Sep-19 to Dec-19	Dec-19 to Mar-20	Mar-20 to Jun-20	Jun-19 to Jun-20
Accommodation	-3.0	0.6	2.4	-12.5	-18.5	-26.5
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services	-2.5	5.0	3.2	-6.7	-16.5	-15.6
Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars	5.9	-4.2	4.3	-6.9	-9.3	-15.6
Rail transport	0.0	0.0	-6.9	0.0	-3.7	-10.3
Road transport and transport equipment rental	-6.2	4.2	-1.7	1.0	-9.4	-6.2
Air, water and other transport	-1.4	7.6	3.3	-6.6	-10.4	-7.0
Travel agency and information centre services	6.6	-1.4	-3.3	-3.1	-11.1	-17.9
Cultural services	-7.1	3.4	8.3	-8.4	-22.5	-20.5
Casinos and other gambling services	4.9	-2.3	0.0	-2.4	-12.2	-16.3
Sports and recreation services	2.5	-4.1	2.9	-17.8	-25.5	-39.7
Retail trade	-1.7	-1.5	4.9	-2.5	-9.6	-9.0
Education and training	5.2	-0.5	-1.2	-2.4	-3.9	-7.7
All other industries	0.8	0.4	0.8	0.8	-4.5	-2.5

Tourism total	-0.5	1.3	2.5	-6.1	-12.9	-15.1
Whole economy total	0.6	0.4	1.4	-0.8	-6.1	-5.1

(a) Change on preceding quarter, except for the last column which shows the change between the current quarter and the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Key COVID-19 dates

Impact of bushfires and COVID-19

The bushfires followed immediately by the COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the Australian economy with tourism particularly affected. This section looks at how tourism has been impacted over the period by comparing estimates of tourism filled jobs at the end of December 2019 with those at the end of June 2020.

Filled jobs

All references to "jobs" are referring to "filled jobs" unless otherwise specified. For information on the various measures of jobs (filled job, Labour Account main job and Labour Account secondary job), please refer to the Glossary in Methodology.

Overall impacts

Tourism jobs peaked at 748,200 in December 2019 and are now at the lowest level (611,700) since June 2014.
More females work in tourism than males so there were more jobs lost by females with a reduction of 88,100 (-21.5%) jobs compared to a fall of 48,300 (-14.3%) for males.
While there are more full-time workers in tourism than part-time, part-time jobs were impacted more with the loss of 87,800 (-24.0%) jobs compared to 48,600 (-12.7%) full-time jobs.

Tourism filled jobs, original series
	Total	Male	Female	Part-time	Full-time
Sep-04	535	247	288	228	307
Dec-04	545	257	288	229	317
Mar-05	543	257	287	226	317
Jun-05	548	258	290	235	313
Sep-05	544	251	293	233	311
Dec-05	548	254	294	231	317
Mar-06	530	247	283	211	319
Jun-06	535	246	289	230	305
Sep-06	556	248	308	247	309
Dec-06	548	244	305	241	307
Mar-07	555	255	300	233	322
Jun-07	550	253	298	237	313
Sep-07	564	263	301	241	323
Dec-07	552	256	295	232	320
Mar-08	549	258	291	228	322
Jun-08	547	253	294	237	310
Sep-08	563	258	304	247	316
Dec-08	556	248	308	244	313
Mar-09	549	246	304	245	305
Jun-09	555	252	303	251	305
Sep-09	569	254	315	270	299
Dec-09	579	260	319	270	310
Mar-10	566	262	303	258	308
Jun-10	570	260	310	257	314
Sep-10	577	270	307	263	314
Dec-10	580	267	313	253	327
Mar-11	574	268	306	250	324
Jun-11	575	264	311	263	313
Sep-11	583	262	321	264	319
Dec-11	596	264	332	269	328
Mar-12	580	266	314	258	322
Jun-12	587	275	312	267	321
Sep-12	609	279	331	283	326
Dec-12	618	284	334	274	344
Mar-13	607	274	333	286	322
Jun-13	600	272	327	281	319
Sep-13	616	279	337	285	331
Dec-13	618	279	340	286	332
Mar-14	619	287	332	289	330
Jun-14	607	280	327	284	323
Sep-14	635	286	349	295	340
Dec-14	641	294	347	296	345
Mar-15	644	298	346	298	346
Jun-15	642	301	341	300	342
Sep-15	673	309	363	320	353
Dec-15	676	310	366	318	357
Mar-16	664	309	355	315	348
Jun-16	666	313	353	325	341
Sep-16	669	312	357	321	348
Dec-16	682	316	367	328	354
Mar-17	691	318	374	334	358
Jun-17	689	315	374	330	359
Sep-17	713	324	388	342	371
Dec-17	736	332	404	357	379
Mar-18	720	324	397	337	383
Jun-18	714	328	386	353	361
Sep-18	723	338	385	357	367
Dec-18	735	340	395	357	378
Mar-19	725	335	390	346	378
Jun-19	721	330	391	360	360
Sep-19	730	330	401	363	367
Dec-19	748	338	411	366	382
Mar-20	703	321	382	341	362
Jun-20	612	289	322	279	333

Tourism filled jobs, original series

["","Total","Male","Female","Part-time","Full-time"]

[["Sep-04","Dec-04","Mar-05","Jun-05","Sep-05","Dec-05","Mar-06","Jun-06","Sep-06","Dec-06","Mar-07","Jun-07","Sep-07","Dec-07","Mar-08","Jun-08","Sep-08","Dec-08","Mar-09","Jun-09","Sep-09","Dec-09","Mar-10","Jun-10","Sep-10","Dec-10","Mar-11","Jun-11","Sep-11","Dec-11","Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20"],[[534.8],[545],[543.4],[547.7],[544.1],[547.9],[530.3],[534.7],[555.7],[548.4],[555.4],[550],[563.6],[551.5],[549.4],[547.2],[562.9],[556.2],[549.3],[555.4],[568.6],[579.4],[565.7],[570.4],[576.9],[580],[574.3],[575],[583],[596.1],[580.1],[587.3],[609.4],[618],[607.1],[599.5],[616],[618.4],[618.9],[607.2],[635],[641.4],[643.9],[641.6],[672.5],[675.5],[663.8],[666],[668.8],[682.4],[691.3],[689.3],[712.7],[736],[720.1],[713.8],[723.2],[734.7],[724.6],[720.7],[730],[748.2],[702.5],[611.7]],[[247.1],[256.8],[256.5],[258.2],[251],[253.7],[247],[245.5],[247.7],[243.8],[255],[252.5],[262.9],[256.3],[258.2],[253.1],[258.4],[247.9],[245.5],[252.1],[254],[260.2],[262.3],[260.2],[269.9],[267.4],[268.1],[264.1],[262.2],[264],[266.1],[275],[278.8],[284.1],[274.2],[272.1],[278.6],[278.9],[286.8],[279.9],[286.2],[294.2],[298.3],[300.6],[309.4],[309.9],[309.2],[312.5],[312.1],[315.6],[317.8],[315.4],[324.4],[332.2],[323.5],[328],[337.8],[339.8],[334.5],[329.6],[329.5],[337.6],[320.7],[289.3]],[[287.7],[288.2],[287],[289.5],[293.1],[294.3],[283.3],[289.2],[308],[304.6],[300.3],[297.6],[300.8],[295.1],[291.2],[294.1],[304.4],[308.4],[303.8],[303.3],[314.6],[319.2],[303.4],[310.2],[307],[312.6],[306.2],[310.9],[320.7],[332.1],[314.1],[312.3],[330.6],[333.9],[333],[327.4],[337.4],[339.5],[332],[327.3],[348.8],[347.2],[345.6],[340.9],[363.2],[365.6],[354.5],[353.4],[356.7],[366.7],[373.5],[373.9],[388.3],[403.9],[396.5],[385.9],[385.4],[395],[390],[391.1],[400.5],[410.5],[381.8],[322.4]],[[228.3],[228.5],[226.1],[235.1],[233.3],[230.5],[211.2],[230],[246.5],[241.4],[233.4],[237.4],[240.8],[231.6],[227.9],[236.9],[247.4],[243.5],[244.8],[250.5],[270],[269.5],[258.1],[256.5],[263.2],[253.4],[250],[262.5],[263.7],[268.6],[257.8],[266.8],[283.2],[273.9],[285.6],[280.8],[284.8],[286.2],[289.2],[284.4],[295],[296],[297.9],[299.5],[319.9],[318.1],[315.3],[325],[320.6],[328],[333.8],[330],[341.9],[356.8],[336.8],[353.3],[356.7],[356.8],[346.2],[360.4],[362.7],[366.4],[340.9],[278.6]],[[306.5],[316.6],[317.4],[312.7],[310.8],[317.4],[319.1],[304.7],[309.2],[307.1],[321.9],[312.6],[322.8],[319.8],[321.5],[310.3],[315.5],[312.7],[304.5],[305],[298.6],[309.9],[307.6],[313.8],[313.7],[326.6],[324.3],[312.6],[319.3],[327.5],[322.4],[320.5],[326.2],[344.1],[321.5],[318.6],[331.1],[332.2],[329.7],[322.8],[340.1],[345.4],[345.9],[342.1],[352.6],[357.4],[348.4],[341],[348.1],[354.4],[357.5],[359.3],[370.8],[379.2],[383.3],[360.6],[366.5],[377.9],[378.3],[360.3],[367.3],[381.8],[361.6],[333.2]]]

[]

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Tourism hit disproportionately

Tourism has been more impacted by the bushfires and COVID-19 than the economy as a whole. Results show:

Tourism jobs fell 18.2% (136,500 jobs) compared to 6.8% (992,300 jobs) in the whole economy.
Tourism accounted for 4.5% of total jobs in June 2020, yet it accounted for 13.8% of job losses of the whole economy.
The proportion of tourism jobs in the total economy fell to a record low.

Change in the proportion of tourism jobs in the economy, June quarters (original) (a)
	Tourism jobs proportion (%)	15 year average, June quarters (a) (%)
Jun-05	5.0	4.8
Jun-06	4.8	4.8
Jun-07	4.8	4.8
Jun-08	4.6	4.8
Jun-09	4.7	4.8
Jun-10	4.7	4.8
Jun-11	4.6	4.8
Jun-12	4.7	4.8
Jun-13	4.7	4.8
Jun-14	4.8	4.8
Jun-15	4.9	4.8
Jun-16	5.0	4.8
Jun-17	5.1	4.8
Jun-18	5.1	4.8
Jun-19	5.0	4.8
Jun-20	4.5

Change in the proportion of tourism jobs in the economy, June quarters (original) (a)

["","Tourism jobs proportion","15 year average, June quarters (a)"]

[["Jun-05","Jun-06","Jun-07","Jun-08","Jun-09","Jun-10","Jun-11","Jun-12","Jun-13","Jun-14","Jun-15","Jun-16","Jun-17","Jun-18","Jun-19","Jun-20"],[[5],[4.8],[4.8],[4.6],[4.7],[4.7],[4.6],[4.7],[4.7],[4.8],[4.9],[5],[5.1],[5.1],[5],[4.5]],[[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[4.8],[null]]]

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(a) Quarterly proportion of tourism jobs in the economy compared with an average proportion of jobs in the economy over the 15 years prior to June 2020.

Industry analysis

All tourism industries were impacted:

On average, in the 10 years prior to 2020, jobs grew annually in all tourism industries except for rail transport which showed no change.
In 2020, the number of jobs fell in all tourism industries.

Change in number of filled jobs ('000), June quarters
	10 year average	2020
Accommodation	0.8	-24.0
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services	7.6	-34.2
Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars	1.5	-9.0
Rail transport	0.0	-0.3
Road transport and transport equipment rental	0.7	-1.8
Air, water and other transport	0.2	-2.4
Travel agency and information centre services	0.9	-6.6
Cultural services	0.3	-2.4
Casinos and other gambling services	0.1	-0.7
Sports and recreation services	0.8	-11.5
Retail trade	1.0	-10.5
Education and training	2.4	-5.0
Total tourism characteristic and connected industries	16.2	-108.4
All other industries	0.3	-0.6
Total tourism filled jobs	16.5	-109.0

Tourism industry

From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, the tourism industries with the largest changes in the number of jobs were:

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services: -34,200 jobs (-15.6%)
Accommodation: -24,000 jobs (-26.5%)
Sports and recreation services: -11,500 jobs (-39.7%)

Tourism jobs ('000), June quarter 2019 and June quarter 2020 (original)
	Jun-19	Jun-20
Accommodation	90.4	66.4
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services	219.0	184.8
Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars	57.7	48.7
Rail transport	2.9	2.6
Road transport and transport equipment rental	28.9	27.1
Air, water and other transport	34.3	31.9
Travel agency and information centre services	36.9	30.3
Cultural services	11.7	9.3
Casinos and other gambling services	4.3	3.6
Sports and recreation services	29.0	17.5
Retail trade	116.7	106.2
Education and training	64.7	59.7
All other industries	24.2	23.6

Tourism jobs ('000), June quarter 2019 and June quarter 2020 (original)

["","Jun-19","Jun-20"]

[["Accommodation","Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services","Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars","Rail transport","Road transport and transport equipment rental","Air, water and other transport","Travel agency and information centre services","Cultural services","Casinos and other gambling services","Sports and recreation services","Retail trade","Education and training","All other industries",""],[[90.4],[219],[57.7],[2.9],[28.9],[34.3],[36.9],[11.7],[4.3],[29],[116.7],[64.7],[24.2],[null]],[[66.4],[184.8],[48.7],[2.6],[27.1],[31.9],[30.3],[9.3],[3.6],[17.5],[106.2],[59.7],[23.6],[null]]]

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Status in employment

From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, tourism jobs changed by:

-7.5% (-27,100) full-time jobs
-22.7% (-81,800) part-time jobs

Tourism jobs by employment status - percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year
	Full-time	Part-time
Jun-19	-0.1	2.0
Sep-19	0.2	1.7
Dec-19	1.0	2.7
Mar-20	-4.4	-1.5
Jun-20	-7.5	-22.7

Tourism jobs by employment status - percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year

["","Full-time","Part-time"]

[["Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20"],[[-0.1],[0.2],[1],[-4.4],[-7.5]],[[2],[1.7],[2.7],[-1.5],[-22.7]]]

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Sex

From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, tourism jobs changed by:

-12.2% (-40,300) for males
-17.6% (-68,700) for females

Tourism jobs by sex - percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year
	Male	Female
Jun-19	0.5	1.3
Sep-19	-2.5	3.9
Dec-19	-0.6	3.9
Mar-20	-4.1	-2.1
Jun-20	-12.2	-17.6

Tourism jobs by sex - percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year

["","Male","Female"]

[["Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20"],[[0.5],[-2.5],[-0.6],[-4.1],[-12.2]],[[1.3],[3.9],[3.9],[-2.1],[-17.6]]]

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Sex by status in employment

In June quarter 2020:

part-time female jobs showed the largest annual decrease of 24.0% (-47,700 jobs)
part-time female jobs also showed the largest quarterly decrease of 19.9% (-37,500 jobs)

Tourism jobs by sex by status in employment - percentage change
	Male		Female
	Mar-20 to Jun-20	Jun-19 to Jun-20	Mar-20 to Jun-20	Jun-19 to Jun-20
Full-time	-3.9	-3.7	-11.3	-10.9
Part-time	-16.3	-21.1	-19.9	-24.0

Feedback

This new TSA publication contains experimental estimates of quarterly tourism labour statistics. The ABS welcomes comments and suggestions from users regarding this release. If you are interested in contributing, please contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070, or email client.services@abs.gov.au

Data downloads

Data cubes

Data files

Tourism filled jobs
Download xlsx [109.77 KB]
Tourism main jobs
Download xlsx [110.21 KB]
Tourism employed persons
Download xlsx [79.58 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5249.0.55.005.

Methodology

Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates methodology, June 2020

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APA

Citation

Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Key COVID-19 dates

Impact of bushfires and COVID-19

Filled jobs

Overall impacts

Tourism hit disproportionately

Industry analysis

Tourism industry

Status in employment

Sex

Sex by status in employment

Feedback

Data downloads

Data cubes

Tourism filled jobs

Tourism main jobs

Tourism employed persons

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder

Provide feedback

APA

Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates

APA

Key statistics

Key COVID-19 dates

Impact of bushfires and COVID-19

Filled jobs

Overall impacts

Tourism hit disproportionately

Industry analysis

Tourism industry

Status in employment

Sex

Sex by status in employment

Feedback

Data downloads

Data cubes

Tourism filled jobs

Tourism main jobs

Tourism employed persons

Previous catalogue number

Methodology

Media releases

Decrease in tourism jobs in June the largest on record

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder