Small Area Labour Market data for the North

The Dept of Employment have released their Small Area Labour Market data for the December quarter. The headline data is presented as a smoothed 4 quarters average at both Local Govt Area and SA2 level. However, hidden in the release is the original, unsmoothed, data and from that we create the Conus Trend series for all the QLD LGAs as well as the SA2 and SA3 areas within the broader Cairns region.

The SALM estimates use data from ABS Labour Force, estimated regional population estimates and Census along with Dept of Social Services Centrelink data in an effort to “produce small area labour market estimates that reflect the regional disparities of the Centrelink data, while being consistent with the ABS Labour Force Survey estimates.”

Most councils in the Far North saw falls in Trend unemployment rates over the quarter. The Conus Trend unemployment rates for our various LGAs in the Far North are;

  • Cairns Regional Council – 5.5%
  • Douglas Shire Council – 4.6%
  • Cassowary Coast Regional Council – 6.1%
  • Tablelands Regional Council – 6.4%
  • Mareeba Shire Council – 8.5%
  • Yarrabah Aboriginal Council – 55.4%

To our south Townsville City Council now sits at 7.4%.

Digging a little deeper into the Cairns region by considering the SA3 regions we see that Conus Trend unemployment rates are;

  • Cairns North – 2.8%
  • Cairns South – 7.0% (Manoora and Manunda at 14.6% and 13.3% respectively)
  • Innisfail Cassowary Coast – 8.7% (this includes Yarrabah. Innisfail at 10.5%, Tully at 4.9%)
  • Port Douglas Daintree – 5.0%
  • Tablelands Kuranda East – 7.3%

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