Cairns adds another 1,100 to Trend employment; unemployment rate stable at 4.0%

The original ABS regional labour force data for Feb, released this morning, allows us to update our own Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series. This shows Trend employment growing in Greater Brisbane at a significantly faster pace than across the Rest of QLD. Greater Brisbane has added 72,400 to Trend employment …read more

How cheap is Cairns property?

There has been some media interest yesterday and today for a Tweet we made yesterday about the fact that the median house price in Cairns has now returned to where it was about eleven years ago…just over $400,000. Despite solid interest in the property market in the past two years …read more

Cairns JobSeekers fall again

Data today from the Dept of Social Services shows that the total number of JobSeekers in the Cairns region has fallen in January, after a modest increase at the end of last year. When we consider the original, unadjusted data through the lens of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend we …read more

Cairns Trend unemployment rate at just 4.0% in December

Regional ABS Labour Force data, when seen through the lens of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend & s.a. series, shows Cairns having gained 5,500 jobs over the course of the year to December (although this remains more than 4,000 below the employment level of Feb 2020). Even with participation picking …read more

JobSeeker numbers creep up again in Dec

Having briefly dipped below 1 million in November today’s JobSeeker data for December shows the trend reversing and the total number claiming benefits back above 1 million (1,028,564). The move is reflected in Queensland where JobSeekers are at their highest level since August (231,231). In Cairns we also see a …read more

Improving Building Approvals in QLD being driven by Greater Brisbane

Last week’s building approvals data showed approvals in November across Australia remained down 7.7% from a  year earlier. In Queensland the result was better with a 5.0% increase. However, the data today of the regional breakdown of those numbers, when seen through the lens of the Conus Trend, show that …read more

QLD Public Service employment up 1.9% in year to Sept

The biannual QLD Public Service workforce statistics were released yesterday (presumably so that they were over-shadowed by the Budget update) and they show Public Service full-time-equivalent (FTE) employment up by 1.9% for the year to Sept. If we ignore the increases in Health and Education (as the Coaldrake Review suggests …read more

Not much change in Far North labour market in October

Despite large falls in employment nationally (and to a lesser degree in Queensland), the North of the State appears to have escaped relatively unscathed this month. The Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series shows trend employment in Cairns fell 400 (with all the losses coming from part-time positions) while Townsville added …read more

Online Job Vacancies soar again in October in the Far North

Data from the National Skills Commission released today shows online job vacancies in the Far North surged in October to a new nine-year high. The three-month average was up 2% from the previous month and is now up 31% from a year ago. Across Queensland vacancies were also stronger, although …read more

Building Approvals fall again in the North

Given the declines we saw in residential building approvals at both the national and State level last week (see here for details) it should come as no surprise to see a similar pattern emerge in the North. However, what today’s release by the ABS of more granular original regional data …read more

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