The number of multiple job-holders increased to 947,000 people in the March quarter 2023, an increase of 2.1 per cent, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “The number of multiple job-holders reached a record high of 947,000 people in the March quarter. This was an increase of 19,000 people since the December quarter and 173,000 higher than before the pandemic.”
“The multiple job-holding rate was 6.6 per cent in the March quarter 2023 – up slightly from a rounded 6.6 per cent in the December quarter 2022. In the December quarter 2019, before the start of the pandemic, it was 5.8 per cent.”
“This is the highest the multiple job-holding rate has been in the Labour Account data that goes back to 1994. It means that around one in fifteen people now have more than one job.”, Mr Jarvis said.
Hours worked increased by 0.5 per cent in the March quarter, following the 2.0 per cent increase in the December quarter 2022. While hours worked increased, showed that labour productivity declined by 0.3 per cent (see media note).
Filled jobs increased by 0.7 per cent, with increases in both main jobs (up 0.5 per cent) and secondary jobs (up 3.5 per cent) in the March quarter. The relative stronger growth in secondary jobs also meant their share of filled jobs rose to a record high of 7.0 per cent.
The proportion of jobs that were vacant was 2.8 per cent, down from the high of 3.2 per cent in the September quarter 2022. It was still well above its pre-pandemic level of 1.6 per cent.
“While the share of jobs that are vacant has fallen from the peak in the September quarter 2022, it is still much higher than before the pandemic. This continues to highlight the difficulties that many employers are facing in filling vacancies.”, Mr Jarvis said.
| Quarterly change (%) | |
|---|---|
| Total jobs | 0.7 |
| Filled jobs | 0.7 |
| Job vacancies | -0.6 |
| Main jobs | 0.5 |
| Secondary jobs | 3.5 |
| Multiple job holders | 2.1 |
| Employed people | 0.8 |
| Hours worked | 0.5 |
“The growth in filled jobs in the March quarter was concentrated in industries economists often refer to as the ‘non-market’ sector – that is, the predominantly public sector industries of Public administration and safety, Education and training, and Health care and social assistance. Filled jobs in that group of industries increased by 2.8 per cent. In contrast, there was no growth in filled jobs for the combined grouping of other industries (that is, the ‘market’ sector).”
“In the market sector, the largest increases in filled jobs were in Arts and recreation services (up 6.1 per cent) and Accommodation and food services (up 4.9 per cent), while jobs fell in Professional, scientific and technical services (down 4.0 per cent), Manufacturing (down 3.4 per cent), and Construction (down 2.7 per cent).”, Mr Jarvis said.
Hours worked followed a similar pattern to filled jobs, with combined growth for industries in the non-market sector of 4.6 per cent, compared with a decline in hours worked of 0.8 per cent in the market sector.
The increase in the number of multiple job-holders in the March quarter was largely driven by increases in the Health care and social assistance (up 7,000 people) and Accommodation and food services (up 4,000 people) industries. Health care and social assistance continued to have the highest number of multiple job-holders (155,000).
The Agriculture, forestry and fishing and Administrative and support services industries had the highest rates of multiple job-holding (9.2 per cent and 9.1 per cent).
| Rate of multiple job holding | Multiple job holders | |
|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance (Q) | 7.7 | 155.1 |
| Accommodation and food services (H) | 7.9 | 101.5 |
| Retail trade (G) | 6.1 | 90.1 |
| Administrative and support services (N) | 9.1 | 88.9 |
| Education and training (P) | 7.1 | 81.0 |
| Construction (E) | 5.7 | 69.8 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services (M) | 5.1 | 63.8 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) | 9.2 | 41.1 |
| Public administration and safety (O) | 5.3 | 40.7 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 4.2 | 38.4 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing (I) | 4.9 | 34.9 |
| Other services (S) | 5.5 | 30.6 |
| Wholesale trade (F) | 4.2 | 26.0 |
| Financial and insurance services (K) | 4.1 | 21.4 |
| Arts and recreation services (R) | 8.0 | 21.0 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services (L) | 5.7 | 17.1 |
| Mining (B) | 5.3 | 11.1 |
| Information media and telecommunications (J) | 5.1 | 10.2 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services (D) | 3.5 | 4.6 |
“Data from the Labour Force Survey shows that a higher proportion of women are multiple job-holders than men – 7.7 per cent compared with 5.7 per cent. Younger people are also more likely to hold multiple jobs, with 7.9 per cent of people aged 15-19 and 8.9 per cent of 20-24 year-olds holding multiple jobs.” Mr Jarvis said.
People who were Community and personal service workers in their main job were most likely of all occupation groups to have more than one job (10.2 per cent). Multiple job-holding was lowest among Technicians and trade workers (3.4 per cent).
