The past 12 months have been good ones for females in the Cairns labour market

Today’s regional labour force data, when seen through the lens of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection series, provides us with a picture of how well females in Cairns have done over the past 12 months compared to their male colleagues. Employment While Trend employment is up in Cairns by 3,500 that …read more

Trend employment dips in Cairns but in general the regions are doing well

September Labour Force data, released by the ABS this morning, allows us to update the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series for the regions of Queensland. We see that while the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate across QLD is 4.9% (see details from last week) in Greater Brisbane it is 5.5% (Trend …read more

Online Job Vacancies power ahead in the Far North

Data this morning from the National Skills Commission shows that, despite the tourism lock-out, the level of online job vacancies in the Far North has once again hit a new 9-year high in Sept. While Queensland numbers have declined somewhat since the record high seen in May (and moved higher …read more

Despite a slight decline in original JobSeeker numbers in Cairns the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend nudges higher in Sept

Data released this morning by the Dept of Social Services shows JobSeeker numbers across the nation fell slightly in Sept although our own Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series suggests a slight increase which brings the y/y decline to 33.2% (from 33.3% last month). In Queensland, again the original data shows …read more

The surge in regional Building Approvals is waning

Data today from the ABS confirms that the recent slowdown in building approvals growth we have seen across Queensland (year/year increase in August down to +32% from +96% as recently as March) is being driven primarily by a slowdown in the regions. The August regional data from the ABS, when …read more

The gloomy stat behind Cairns’ good-looking unemployment rate

Although Cairns’ unemployment rate looks wonderful (4.6% Trend & 4.1% s.a. Conus/CBC Staff Selection series) there is a gloomy statistic which highlights how far behind the rest of the State the region is tracking. When we consider the rate of employment growth in Cairns relative to other places across the …read more

June National Visitor Survey shows just how well TNQ was doing before the lockdowns

Today sees the release by Tourism Research Australia of the June quarter National Visitor Survey data (see here). What it highlights is just how well the Tropical North QLD region was doing with domestic tourism before the effects of the NSW, Victoria and ACT lockdowns took their toll. For the …read more

Cairns employment deep dive…August data

A lot has changed in Australia’s labour market since the COVID pandemic struck. Lockdowns, lock-outs, payroll support, increased JobSeeker payments and workers working zero hours have all had profound impacts, to the point where the headline unemployment rate (now the seasonally adjusted series since the ABS had to suspend the …read more

Trend employment in Cairns not being impacted by the tourism lock-out….yet

The ABS release of original regional labour force data today allows us to update the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional Employment series. This shows us that, despite the tourism slowdown caused by the NSW, Victoria and ACT lockdowns (and the resultant lock-out for the Cairns tourism sector), Trend employment in Cairns …read more

A closer look at what’s happened in the Cairns labour market since COVID

A lot has changed in Australia’s labour market since the COVID pandemic struck. Lockdowns, lock-outs, payroll support, increased JobSeeker payments and workers working zero hours have all had profound impacts, to the point where the headline unemployment rate (now the seasonally adjusted series since the ABS had to suspend the …read more

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