New Australian labour market information

In response to the need for more timely labour market information, the ABS is releasing three new statistical products:

    • The Business Impacts of COVID-19 Survey provides information from business, including changes to workforce arrangements, staffing levels and location of work.
    • The Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey provides information from households, including changes in jobs, hours worked, and employment arrangements. This new information is in addition to existing quarterly job information in Job Vacancies and the Labour Account.
    • Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia provides information on changes in jobs and wages paid, for all businesses who report through the Single Touch Payroll system to the Australian Tax Office (approximately 99% of large and medium sized businesses, and around 70% of small businesses). This new wage and job information will complement existing wages information in the Wage Price Index, Average Weekly Earnings, the Labour Account, and aggregates from the National Accounts – Compensation of Employees and Average Compensation per Employee.

Understanding the impact of the spread of the coronavirus on the labour market – both on people and businesses, as well as the responses to government restrictions and government support packages – will be critical to understanding the evolution of the Australian economy over coming months.

The ABS has implemented a range of initiatives to ensure the existing suite of labour market statistics continue to be of high quality. We are grateful for the tremendous support from the community that has enabled us to continue to produce high quality Labour Force statistics.

Given its sample size and thoroughly tested methodology, the monthly Labour Force release will continue to be the most reliable and authoritative source of information on the Australian labour market. Labour Force statistics are compiled in line with international standards and have well-established approaches to measuring change in employment arrangements. The next release of Labour Force, for the month of March, will occur on Thursday 16 April 2020.

The April release schedule for new ABS products can be found here.

Dr David Gruen
Australian Statistician
14 April 2020