Labour Account Australia

This is not the latest release View the latest release

The Australian Labour Account provides quarterly time series data, consisting of four quadrants: Jobs, Persons, Hours and Payments

Cite
Print
Reference period
June 2024
Released
6/09/2024
View all releases

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024:

  • total jobs increased 0.3% to 16.1 million
  • filled jobs increased 0.4% to 15.8 million
  • secondary jobs decreased 2.9% to 1.07 million
  • proportion of vacant jobs decreased to 2.2%
  • multiple job-holders decreased 1.2% to 961,400
  • hours worked increased 1.1% to 5.9 billion hours.
Key statistics - Seasonally adjusted
  Jun-24Quarterly change (%)Annual change (%)
Jobs    
 Total jobs16,110,2000.3%1.9%
 Filled jobs15,759,2000.4%2.4%
 Job vacancies350,900-3.5%-17.5%
 Main jobs14,687,4000.6%2.6%
 Secondary jobs1,071,800-2.9%0.2%
 Proportion of vacant jobs2.2%nana
People    
 Employed people14,701,9000.8%2.7%
 Multiple job holders961,400-1.2%0.2%
 Multiple job holding rate6.5%nana
Hours    
 Hours actually worked5,928.5 million1.1%0.5%
Payments    
 Average income per employed person$23,791.300.1%2.8%
Key statistics - Trend
  Jun-24Quarterly change (%)Annual change (%)
Jobs    
 Total jobs16,124,8000.6%2.1%
 Filled jobs15,774,0000.7%2.6%
 Job vacancies350,800-4.0%-17.3%
 Main jobs14,692,9000.8%2.8%
 Secondary jobs1,081,000-0.7%0.9%
 Proportion of vacant jobs2.2%nana
People    
 Employed people14,692,4000.7%2.6%
 Multiple job holders966,300-0.1%0.8%
 Multiple job holding rate6.6%nana
Hours    
 Hours actually worked5,913.2 million0.6%1.0%
Payments    
 Average income per employed person$23,818.800.3%2.8%


 

Indicative state level jobs and hours worked estimates from the Labour Account

This release includes an article providing updated indicative state and territory level industry estimates for the Labour Account jobs and hours worked series through to June quarter 2024 (see Modelled state and territory jobs and hours worked estimates by industry).

Trend estimates reinstated for the Payments quadrant

The ABS has reinstated Labour Account trend estimates for the Payments quadrant (including for the entire COVID-19 period in spreadsheets) in this issue. This follows reinstatement of trend estimates in the Jobs, People and Hours quadrants and reversion to concurrent seasonal adjustment across all series in September quarter 2023. For more information, see Seasonal adjustment and trend estimates below.

Guide to labour statistics

To learn more about our different labour measures, their purpose and how to use them, see our Guide to labour statistics. It provides summary information on labour market topics including Industry employment data.

Data impacts and changes

Revisions this quarter

Seasonal adjustment and trend estimates

Jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024:

  • filled jobs increased by 0.4%, following a 1.0% rise in the March quarter 2024, and 2.4% through the year
  • the number of main jobs increased by 88,400 (0.6%)
  • the proportion of vacant jobs decreased to 2.2%
  • the number of public sector jobs increased by 2.3%, while the number of private sector jobs increased by 0.5%.

Total jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024, the total number of jobs increased by 43,800 (0.3%). This consisted of an increase of 56,300 filled jobs and a decrease of 12,600 job vacancies.

Filled jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024, the number of filled jobs increased by 56,300 to 15.8 million.

  1. Larger than usual quarter-to-quarter changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period.
Filled jobs, by industry, June quarter 2024, seasonally adjusted
Filled jobs ('000)Quarterly change (%)Annual change (%)
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)490.81.64.4
Mining (B)230.22.49.5
Manufacturing (C)893.5-0.8-0.6
Electricity, gas, water and waste services (D)138.91.60.7
Construction (E)1,228.0-0.50.7
Wholesale trade (F)603.3-1.9-4.2
Retail trade (G)1,501.42.61.9
Accommodation and food services (H)1,073.4-0.8-7.8
Transport, postal and warehousing (I)715.7-1.1-0.8
Information media and telecommunications (J)205.9-2.3-2.2
Financial and insurance services (K)519.30.00.8
Rental, hiring and real estate services (L)320.50.00.6
Professional, scientific and technical services (M)1,246.80.71.6
Administrative and support services (N)1,113.54.212.1
Public administration and safety (O)887.62.77.7
Education and training (P)1,296.90.83.8
Health care and social assistance (Q)2,442.0-0.47.6
Arts and recreation services (R)281.8-8.50.9
Other services (S)569.7-0.4-0.1
Total all industries15,759.20.42.4

Main and secondary jobs

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024:

  • main jobs increased by 88,400 (0.6%)
  • secondary jobs decreased by 32,100 (2.9%)
  • the proportion of secondary jobs to filled jobs decreased to 6.8%.

The three industries with the highest number of secondary jobs were Health care and social assistance, Administrative and support services, and Education and training.

Secondary jobs can be held by people who have their main job in the same or a different industry. 

Statistical discrepancy - Filled jobs

People

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024:

  • the total number of employed people increased by 0.8% to 14.7 million
  • the number of multiple job-holders decreased by 1.2%
  • unemployed people increased by 22,600 people to 599,300.
  1. Larger than usual quarter-to-quarter changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period.

The three industries with the highest number of employed people in the June quarter 2024 were Health care and social assistance, Retail trade, and Education and training. 

Hours

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024, the total number of hours actually worked increased by 62.2 million hours (1.1%) to 5.9 billion hours.

  1. Larger than usual quarter-to-quarter changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period.

The three industries with the highest number of hours actually worked in the June quarter 2024 were Health care and social assistance, Construction, and Professional, scientific and technical services. 

Payments

The Labour Account Payments quadrant presents the costs incurred by enterprises in employing labour, and the income received by people from its provision. Total income consists of compensation of employees and labour income from self-employment. The addition of other related costs to employers to total income will derive total labour costs.

In seasonally adjusted terms, in the June quarter 2024:

  • total labour income increased by $3,162 million (0.9%) to $349,776 million
  • the average labour income per employed person increased by 0.1% to $23,791
  • total compensation of employees increased by 1.2% to $322,357 million
  • labour income from self-employment decreased by 2.0% to $27,419 million
  • total labour costs increased by $3,376 million (0.9%) to $371,907 million. 

 

  1. Larger than usual quarter-to-quarter changes occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABS recommends caution when using trend estimates published in spreadsheets in this release for this period.

The three industries with the highest total labour income in the June quarter 2024 were Health care and social assistance, Professional, scientific and technical services, and Construction.

Data downloads

Download all (10.07 MB)

Time series spreadsheets

Quarterly estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Division and Total All Industries.

Data files

Subdivison datasets

Industry subdivision estimates are available through Data Explorer.

Data Explorer datasets

Quarterly original estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Subdivision, Division and Total All Industries.

Labour Account balanced - Balanced quarterly original estimates for Jobs, People, Hours and Payments by Industry Subdivision, Division and Total All Industries.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data explorer user guide.

Article archive

Previous feature articles

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6150.0.55.003.

Methodology

Labour Account Australia methodology, June 2024

Articles

Media releases