Regional jobs data shows Trend unemployment rate improves in Cairns

The regional labour market data from the ABS released today shows the unadjusted, original unemployment rate in Cairns stood at 7.2% (down from 8.7%) in August. However, as always the raw unadjusted ABS data is far too volatile to take seriously on a month-by-month basis. Rather we should focus our …read more

Domestic visitor delight for TNQ in the NVS numbers

Yesterday saw the release of Tourism Research Australia’s National Visitor Survey for the June quarter; and the numbers make good reading for those of us in the Far North. Total overnight domestic trips in Australia were up 5.2% to 83.2m while QLD saw growth of 5.6% to 19.1m. However, in …read more

Regional Building Approvals dip in Cairns but strong in Cassowary Coast

After last week’s release of slightly better than expected building approvals data at the state and national levels (see here) today saw the release of the regional data. As always the ABS regional data is presented in its original form without any seasonal adjustment so we need to consider the Conus …read more

Cairns unemployment rate up; but the headline hides a slightly stronger story

The ABS this morning released the regional labour force data. As always when considering this unadjusted series, we need to look at the underlying Conus Trend if we are to make any sense of the numbers. What we see here is a Conus Trend Unemployment Rate in Cairns that has …read more

Regional Building Approvals a mixed bag

The regional residential building approvals data for the Far North in June were a bit of a mixed bag. Data released by the ABS this morning shows a total of 59 approvals in Cairns (incl Douglas) after 68 in May; 121 in Townsville after 93 in May; and 13 in …read more

Cairns Trend unemployment remains stuck at 8%

Regional labour market data for June released by the ABS this morning shows the position in Cairns stuck around a Trend unemployment rate of 8% and falling to 3rd worst place, from 4th last month; this month just Wide Bay (10.2%) and Logan-Beaudesert (9.0%) have higher rates of Trend unemployment. …read more

Building Approvals show some improvement in FNQ

After last months’ disappointing building approvals data, today’s numbers for May indicate a slightly stronger picture in the Far North. The headline, unadjusted data from the ABS is always too volatile to discern direction from, but the Conus Trend paints a picture. The unadjusted data showed 98 approvals in Townsville, …read more

Small Area Labour Market data supports improving jobs story in Q1 for Far North

After yesterday’s disappointing regional data for May (see here) it is encouraging to see the quarterly Dept of Employment Small Area Labour Market (SALM) data for the first quarter of this year confirm the generally positive trend that we have been witnessing earlier this year. The SALM estimates are created …read more

Cairns employment growth slows; unemployment rate up on back of female jobless

The Trend of improving employment data for the Cairns region that we have been discussing this year appears to have come to a halt. Today’s release from the ABS of unadjusted labour market data for May has the headline unemployment rate in Cairns jumping to 9.8% (from 6.8% in April) …read more

Local Building Approvals slow

Regional ABS data for April shows building approvals in the Cassowary Coast slowed sharply, despite positive comments from the Council about first quarter data in the local press just last week (see our previous commentary on what appeared strong data). Unadjusted approvals in April were just 2 (after 11 in …read more

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