Payroll jobs rose 2.0 per cent in the month to 17 February 2024, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “The rise in payroll jobs between mid-January and mid-February 2024 followed the regular seasonal pattern of business activity increasing as people return to work after their summer break.
“The growth in payroll jobs from mid-January to mid-February in 2024 was broadly consistent with what we’ve seen at this time of the year since 2020. The seasonal contribution from Education and training jobs is always strong at this time of year, even through the COVID-19 pandemic, and which we again saw this year.”
| mid-Feb month (%) | |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2.6 |
| 2021 | 2.1 |
| 2022 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 2.5 |
| 2024 | 2.0 |
Mid-Feb represents the week ending 15 February 2020, 20 February 2021, 19 February 2022, 18 February 2023 and 17 February 2024.
“We continue to see lower annual growth in payroll jobs through 2023-24 than through 2022-23, consistent with our other labour market indicators.
“However, it’s also important to remember that this slower rise follows a particularly strong period of growth through 2022-23,” said Mr Jarvis.
| 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97.5 | 103.6 | 110.1 | 113.9 | |
| 98.6 | 104.4 | 111.0 | 114.3 | |
| 98.7 | 104.1 | 111.0 | 114.2 | |
| 98.9 | 102.9 | 111.1 | 114.3 | |
| 99.1 | 103.1 | 111.5 | 114.5 | |
| 99.2 | 102.9 | 111.6 | 114.6 | |
| 99.1 | 102.8 | 111.9 | 114.9 | |
| mid-Aug | 99.2 | 102.1 | 112.1 | 115.1 |
| 99.3 | 101.6 | 112.3 | 115.2 | |
| 99.6 | 101.7 | 112.3 | 114.9 | |
| 100.0 | 102.3 | 112.5 | 115.1 | |
| 100.2 | 102.7 | 112.5 | 115.3 | |
| 100.0 | 102.5 | 112.2 | 115.1 | |
| 99.3 | 102.2 | 111.7 | 114.6 | |
| 99.5 | 102.6 | 111.9 | 114.5 | |
| 100.4 | 104.3 | 112.6 | 115.5 | |
| 100.7 | 105.5 | 112.9 | 115.8 | |
| 100.9 | 106.4 | 113.0 | 115.3 | |
| 101.3 | 106.9 | 113.2 | 115.3 | |
| 102.1 | 107.4 | 113.7 | 115.6 | |
| mid-Nov | 102.4 | 107.9 | 114.0 | 115.8 |
| 102.8 | 108.2 | 114.2 | 116.8 | |
| 103.3 | 108.7 | 114.5 | 117.3 | |
| 103.4 | 108.5 | 114.3 | 117.6 | |
| 102.6 | 107.7 | 113.7 | 117.0 | |
| 98.8 | 104.0 | 110.4 | 114.2 | |
| 96.1 | 99.9 | 105.6 | 109.5 | |
| 97.4 | 100.5 | 106.0 | 109.0 | |
| 99.5 | 102.8 | 108.4 | 111.0 | |
| 100.5 | 104.2 | 109.8 | 112.4 | |
| 101.1 | 105.0 | 110.5 | 113.2 | |
| 101.6 | 105.5 | 111.4 | 113.9 | |
| 102.3 | 106.1 | 112.0 | 114.4 | |
| mid-Feb | 102.6 | 105.9 | 112.5 | 114.7 |
| 103.1 | 105.8 | 113.0 | ||
| 103.3 | 106.1 | 113.4 | ||
| 103.7 | 107.1 | 113.6 | ||
| 103.8 | 107.5 | 113.7 | ||
| 103.7 | 107.6 | 113.9 | ||
| 102.8 | 107.3 | 113.7 | ||
| 102.5 | 107.5 | 113.1 | ||
| 102.7 | 106.9 | 112.8 | ||
| 103.0 | 106.5 | 113.2 | ||
| 103.3 | 107.1 | 113.5 | ||
| 103.7 | 107.6 | 113.9 | ||
| 104.0 | 107.9 | 114.3 | ||
| mid-May | 104.2 | 108.2 | 114.3 | |
| 103.9 | 108.4 | 114.3 | ||
| 103.5 | 108.3 | 114.3 | ||
| 103.7 | 108.7 | 114.3 | ||
| 103.8 | 109.2 | 114.5 | ||
| 103.5 | 109.7 | 114.4 |
Indexed to the week ending 14 March 2020.
Mid-Aug represents the week ending 15 August 2020, 14 August 2021, 20 August 2022 and 19 August 2023.
Mid-Nov represents the week ending 14 November 2020, 20 November 2021, 19 November 2022 and 18 November 2023.
Mid-Feb represents the week ending 20 February 2021, 19 February 2022, 18 February 2023 and 17 February 2024.
Mid-May represents the week ending 15 May 2021, 14 May 2022, and 20 May 2023.
From mid-January to mid-February payroll jobs rose in all states and territories with the strongest rises in Northern Territory (3.1 per cent), Victoria (2.5 per cent) and South Australia (2.3 per cent).
“The Education and training industry accounted for around 44 per cent of the total rise in payroll jobs as students returned to studies across the country, and workers in the industry started or returned to their jobs,” Mr Jarvis said.
| Education & training (%) | Health care & social assistance (%) | Administrative & support services (%) | Other Industries (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 43.8 | 17.3 | 8.7 | 30.2 |
| 2023 | 39.5 | 13.0 | 2.7 | 44.8 |
| 2022 | 47.5 | 9.1 | 8.2 | 35.2 |
Mid-February represents the week ending 19 February 2022, 18 February 2023 and 17 February 2024.
The three industries represented individually accounted for the largest share of payroll jobs in the latest month to 17 February 2024.
