Where have QLD’s new Public Sectors jobs been seen?

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Pete Faulkner - Cairns, Jobs, QLD, Townsville, Uncategorized

The release of the Public Sector employment data for the Dec 2017 quarter allows us to take a look at which regions have seen the greatest increases this year, and since the ALP came to power in 2015.

What we see, when considering Full-time equivalents (FTE), is an increase of 3.0% for the year to Dec 2017 which has been split between a 3.5% increase in regional Queensland and 2.5% in Greater Brisbane. The Sunshine Coast has been the stand-out for the year with growth of 11.4% (or an additional 1,279 FTEs) contrasted with Conus Trend employment growth in the region at just 9.2% for the year to Dec 2017.

In our own region Cairns saw growth of 2.5% y/y which was broadly in line with Conus Trend employment growth of 2.2%. Townsville saw much slower growth (just 1.5%) despite Conus Trend employment increasing at 11.1%.

Since the Palaszczuk ALP Government took over Public Sector FTEs have grown 8.7% (actually some what higher than this if we allow for the fact that they came to power in mid-Feb 2015…see here for details) with growth in Greater Brisbane of 8.1% and 9.4% in the Rest of Queensland. The additional regional growth equating to less than 1,000 new jobs over the period.

Again the Sunshine Coast has been the star performer with growth over the period of 20.5%. The Gold Coast also saw significant expansion up 15.9%.

Cairns has grown at close to the regional average up 9.1% while Townsville has seen just 5.5% growth in that time.

While the Government have talked about supporting jobs in regional Queensland, and certainly some programs appear to have done that, it is clear that when it came to their own direct hiring they have done little to stimulate extra employment in the regions. Indeed if we exclude the SEQ regions of the Sunshine and Gold Coasts then Public Sector FTE growth in regional Queensland shrinks to just 6.2% since Mar 2015, well below the pace in the SE corner.

		Dec-17	Dec-16	%	Mar-15	%
		FTE	FTE	y/y	FTE	since Mar 15
Brisbane – East		4,795	4,663	2.8	4,537	5.7
Brisbane – North		9,384	9,020	4.0	8,254	13.7
Brisbane – South		18,702	18,512	1.0	17,859	4.7
Brisbane – West		3,542	3,403	4.1	3,263	8.6
Brisbane Inner City		43,487	42,897	1.4	40,536	7.3
Ipswich		14,003	13,323	5.1	12,740	9.9
Logan – Beaudesert		10,198	9,866	3.4	9,352	9.0
Moreton Bay – North		8,881	8,602	3.2	8,017	10.8
Moreton Bay – South		3,289	3,124	5.3	2,974	10.6
Greater Brisbane		116.280	113,410	2.5	107,533	8.1
Cairns		13,035	12,723	2.5	11,946	9.1
Fitzroy		9,665	9,472	2.0	9,146	5.7
Darling Downs – Maranoa		4,941	4,866	1.6	4,782	3.3
Gold Coast		18,555	17,683	4.9	16,014	15.9
Mackay		6,423	6,243	2.9	5,893	9.0
Queensland – Outback		5,968	5,857	1.9	5,950	0.3
Sunshine Coast		12,502	11,223	11.4	10,376	20.5
Toowoomba		7,420	7,238	2.5	6,781	9.4
Townsville		12,561	12,374	1.5	11,903	5.5
Wide Bay		11.599	11,507	0.8	11,055	4.9
ROQ		102,669	99,186	3.5	93,847	9.4
QLD		218,949	212,596	3.0	201,379	8.7

Responses

1. Glen says:
   

   April 13th, 2018 at 1:27 am

   Very interesting Pete, certainly dispels the myth that Townsville is over represented in the public servant numbers, at least state govt levels anyway. Given your recent posts regarding the growth in the health sector in both Cairns and Townsville it could well be that much of this growth in Townsville is actually in the private health sector.

2. Pete Faulkner says:
   

   April 19th, 2018 at 12:02 am

   Sorry for the delay in replying Glen. You’re quite right in your observation although the industry sector employment data collects both private and public sector healthcare workers together so it would be hard to verify your theory (at least on this data set). Thanks for the comment. Pete

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