We really should be used to it by now! The March Labour Force Survey data has once again beaten market expectations by a long way; employment was up 70,700 in March (the market had been expecting half of that) with the unemployment rate falling to 5.6% (expectations had been for …read more
As we noted last week (see here), Queensland’s labour market has been performing relatively well during recent months with total employed up 1.3% in February from a year earlier (while nationwide that figure is unchanged). Inevitably, with the Queensland Government’s own Public Service employment data (data only up to Sept 2020) …read more
The February labour force data from the ABS shows a stunning surge in employment which has taken the number in work back to virtually the same level as a year ago, pre-COVID (actually -0.01% y/y). Employment jumped a thumping 88,700 (with full-time employment up 89,100) and while participation remained unchanged …read more
Once again we see a drop in the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend unemployment rate with the January data showing 5.4%. However, before we get too excited about what appears to be very positive news we should note that the reason for the fall is not improving employment but rather a …read more
Due to a written response by Treasury to the Senate COVID committee (available here) I’ve been able to update and rethink my estimates of JobKeeper in Cairns (SA4) and what might happen come March when the scheme is due to end. Treasury told the committee that JobKeeper recipients for the …read more
We have been highlighting for some time the fact that the Queensland labour market has benefitted from the positive health outcomes in the State (see here for the most recent December data) with both employment and hours worked per capita up since March. Back in November we discussed one of the reasons …read more
We have recently expanded the coverage of our Conus and Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional Employment Trend data series to include WA and now have regional data for NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA. So, with the release of the Dec 2020 data recently, it seemed appropriate to take a look at …read more
The release of original regional employment data for December by the ABS allows us to update the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series. While employment across Queensland has lifted 27,250 during 2020 this latest analysis shows that the bulk of those gains have come from regional Queensland (Rest of QLD added …read more
As we noted last week (see here), Queensland’s labour market has been performing relatively well during recent months with total employed up 1.1% in December from a year earlier (while nationwide that figure is a decline of 0.5%). Inevitably, with the Queensland Government’s own Public Service employment data (data only …read more
The ABS December Labour Force data released today is broadly in line with market expectations, which in themselves were quite bullish. Employment lifted by another 50,000 from November and is now down just 0.5% from a year ago. The unemployment rate has again fallen to 6.6% even while the participation …read more