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

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

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