Public/Private Sector Employment data shows QLD doing well

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Pete Faulkner - Jobs, NSW, QLD, Uncategorized

The recent quarterly Labour Force data from the ABS for the May quarter provides us with an insight into the split between Public and Private Sector employment at national and State levels. The data is provided only in its original, unadjusted form and we use this to estimate a Conus seasonally adjusted series for all industry groups across the public and private sectors.

This shows that while total employment across Australia grew 8.2% y/y (the ABS monthly data shows this at 8.1% y/y s.a.), the growth came from the Private Sector where employment lifted 10.0% y/y; Public Sector employment was down 1.6% y/y.

Queensland saw Private Sector employment lift a nation-leading 15.0% y/y which, when combined with a 4.0% y/y drop in the Public Sector, saw total employment lift by 12.0% y/y (same as the ABS monthly s.a. figure). This is the best result across all States and Territories in May.

	% change y/y
	Public	Private	Total
AUS	-1.6	+10.0	+8.2
NSW	+0.1	+10.8	+9.1
VIC	+2.5	+6.9	+6.4
QLD	-4.0	+15.0	+12.0
SA	+8.8	+7.4	+7.6
WA	-5.6	+11.4	+8.7
TAS	-4.9	+11.8	+8.3
NT	-20.6	+9.4	+0.2
ACT	-18.7	+21.7	+4.0

As the charts below makes clear, Public Sector employment growth has been relatively stable, or slightly weaker, in all the major States while Private Sector employment (excluding COVID impacts) has been on a steady trajectory in QLD and VIC and quite flat in NSW for the past couple of years.

We should point out that Public Sector employment in this data set includes both Federal, State and Local Government employment and should not be confused with the Queensland Government Public Service employment data (see here for latest) which showed a 1.3% y/y increase in headcount to the March quarter. Public Service data is also provided on the basis of FTE and this is the figure most closely watched (this was +1.2% y/y in March).