Salaried jobs fall in Australia between October and November

Payroll jobs in Australia decreased by 0.2 % in the month up to the second week of November after a 0.2 % rise the month before, reflecting a rise and then fall of temporary jobs in the public administration and safety industry, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Bjorn Jarvis, Head of Labour Statistics at ABS, called the number of salaried jobs as relatively steady over the past couple of months, with the recent fall of 0.2 % offsetting the similar-sized rise in the month before.

“In line with the smaller monthly changes in payroll jobs in recent months, annual growth has also slowed from what we saw earlier in 2023, when it was particularly strong,” said Jarvis.

The fall in salaried jobs has been attributed to the end of temporary salaried jobs in mid-October to mid-November, pre-October referendum.

“The high number of temporary jobs related to the referendum had a visible effect on the labour market over the past couple of months, contributing to the increase into mid-October and fall into mid-November,” Jarvis said.

“If the influence of these temporary jobs around the referendum was removed, the total number of payroll jobs would have increased over the past month, by around 0.3 %.”

Salaried-jobs in five of the eight states and territories in Australia fell in mid-November, with the biggest falls in the states of Victoria and Queensland, down 0.4 %. They accounted for around three-quarters (76.5 %) of the total fall over the month. Western Australia saw the largest rise of 0.5 %.

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Overall, in the last year to mid-November 2023, payroll jobs rose in every state and territory, with the Northern Territory recording the largest growth (up 4.6 %) and New South Wales and Queensland the smallest (both up 1.7 %), reported Mirage News.