More signs of a bottoming-out in regional Building Approvals Trend

Last week, when the ABS Building Approvals Trend for April was released, we noted that there appeared to be early signs of a possible bottoming-out after a period of sharp falls. Today the release of the Conus Regioanl Building Approvals Trend data (derived from the ABS original data released yesterday) …read more

Shifting Participation Rates in Queensland regions

Some months ago we considered the impacts of changes in age and sex demographics within the labour force and the impact this was having on Participation Rates across Queensland. You can read the original post here which outlines the methodology used to split out the Propensity and Demographic Impacts within …read more

Regional employment data shows Trends in Cairns very strong (again)

The ABS original regional labour force data for April allows us to update our own Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series. With the Trend unemployment rate in Queensland dropping slightly in April to 5.9% (from 6.0%) we might have expected some modest imprivements in our regional data. The Trend unemployment rate …read more

Trend building approvals down again…but has Townsville hit bottom?

The release from the ABS of original residential building approvals data for March allows us to update our own Queensland SA4, and Northern LGA regional Conus Trend series. While the ABS Trend data showed approvals down 35.1% y/y across Queensland the Conus Trend allows us to see that Greater Brisbane …read more

Jobseekers Trend data shows further declines in the North

The Dept of Social Services Jobseekers data for March has been released which allows us to estimate our Conus Trend series from the original, unadjusted data. What it shows us is further falls in the number of people claiming either Newstart or Youth Allowance in the North. Our Conus/CBC Staff …read more

Public Sector employment data shows the fiscal principle still not being met…and the Govt appear to want to move the goal posts

The release of the December quarter Public Sector work force data (which was released over the weekend) shows (again) that the Government’s fiscal principle of keeping full-time equivalent Public Sector employment growth to that of population growth has not been met. FTE growth in the year to Dec 2018 was +3.0%, well above …read more

Regional Employment data shows Cairns improving further

The release by the ABS of their original, unadjusted regional labour force data allows us to update our own Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional Employment Trend series for Queensland. What we see is the employment picture improving much better in the Rest of QLD than Greater Brisbane with Cairns now a …read more

Building Approvals falling faster in the North

Last week we saw the February residential Building Approvals data show a 21.7% y/y decline across Australia and a 35.3% y/y fall in Queensland. Today’s release of the regional Building Approvals data allows us to dig a little deeper into those numbers. Using the Conus Trend series (based on the …read more

Trend Jobseekers fall in Cairns, up in Townsville

The Dept of Social Services original data on Jobseekers (people receiving Newstart and Youth allowances) for Feb was released this morning which allows us to update our Conus/CBC Staff Selection Jobseeker Trend data for Cairns and Townsville. We see Cairns Trend Jobseekers fall to 8,500 (the lowest level in 6 …read more

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 …read more

© Conus Business Consultancy Services 2026

Website created by RJ New Designs