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Slow growth in payroll jobs: Australia

Payroll jobs rose 0.3 per cent in the month to 17 September 2022, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said: “Payroll jobs have continued to grow slowly across 2022, with average monthly growth over the past six months of 0.3 per cent. This reflects the sustained tightness in labour market conditions across the country.

“The growth in the month to mid-September 2022 varies from previous years, due to differing labour market conditions at the time. In mid-September 2021, payroll jobs fell due to Delta-related lockdowns in some jurisdictions, and rose in mid-September 2020 reflecting the recovery from initial pandemic impacts.”

Payroll jobs indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020 (week 10 in 2020)

2020 (pts)2021 (pts)2022 (pts)
week 092.796.199.3
week 195.297.399.9
week 296.799.5102.1
week 397.5100.5103.6
week 498.0101.0104.4
week 598.7101.6104.9
week 699.1102.3105.5
week 799.5102.6105.2
week 899.5103.0105.1
week 999.9103.2105.4
week 10100.0103.6106.4
week 1199.0103.8106.8
week 1295.5103.6106.7
week 1393.0102.8106.5
week 1491.7102.4106.6
week 1591.7102.6105.9
week 1692.2102.9105.5
week 1792.7103.3106.1
week 1893.4103.7106.6
week 1994.1103.9106.9
week 2094.5104.1107.2
week 2194.8103.8107.3
week 2295.8103.4107.2
week 2396.2103.6107.6
week 2496.3103.8108.1
week 2596.2103.5108.8
week 2697.5103.4109.1
week 2798.6104.2109.5
week 2898.7103.9108.7
week 2998.9102.7108.5
week 3099.2102.9108.7
week 3199.2102.7108.1
week 3299.1102.6108.4
week 3399.2101.9108.3
week 3499.3101.4108.3
week 3599.6101.5108.2
week 36100.0102.1108.4
week 37100.2102.5108.6
week 38100.0102.3
week 3999.3102.0
week 4099.5102.4
week 41100.4104.1
week 42100.7105.2
week 43100.9106.1
week 44101.3106.7
week 45102.0107.1
week 46102.4107.6
week 47102.7107.9
week 48103.2108.2
week 49103.3108.2
week 50102.6107.4
week 5198.9103.7

Week 0 represents the week ending 4 January 2020, 2 January 2021 and 1 January 2022. Week 37 represents the week ending 19 September 2020, 18 September 2021 and 17 September 2022.

Industries

In the month to mid-September 2022, payroll jobs rose in 7 of 19 industries. The largest rises were in Education and training (up 2.0 per cent), Retail trade (up 1.4 per cent) and the Professional, scientific and technical services industries (up 1.1 per cent). Together, these industries account for almost 90 per cent of the growth in payroll jobs during this period.

These increases are likely to be largely seasonal and follow payroll jobs growth in 2020.

Over the same month in 2020, payroll jobs growth in Retail trade was particularly strong, reflecting its rapid recovery from the initial pandemic outbreak.

Month change to mid-September, payroll jobs in selected industries

2020 (%)2021 (%)2022 (%)
All industries1.00.50.3
Professional, scientific and technical services1.41.71.1
Retail trade3.00.11.4
Education and training2.1-0.12.0

Month change represents the month up to the week ending 19 September 2020, 18 September 2021 and 17 September 2022.

The remaining 12 industries saw falls in payroll jobs over the month to mid-September 2022, with the largest in the Arts and recreation services (down 1.3 per cent) and the Transport, postal and warehousing industries (down 1.0 per cent).

States and territories

“Payroll jobs rose in every state and territory in the month to mid-September 2022, with the largest rises in the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia (up 0.7 and 0.6 per cent),” Mr Jarvis said.

The Education and training industry accounted for more than a third of the payroll jobs increase over the month to mid-September across all states and territories, reflecting the seasonal high in payroll jobs ahead of the Spring school holidays.

Seasonality in wages

Wages paid rose 2.7 per cent in the month to mid-September 2022. The seasonal increase in wages was largely driven by the payment of periodic bonuses in multiple industries around September each year. As Single Touch Payroll data does not currently separate bonuses and other types of payment such as overtime from wages and salaries, it is not possible to identify underlying growth in core wages and salaries in these statistics.

The ABS acknowledges the continued support of the Australian Taxation Office in enabling the ABS to produce weekly insights into the Australian labour market from Single Touch Payroll data.

/ABS Public Release. View in full .