Chapter 1: Labour Market

1.1 Employment

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Number employed (a) – '000
New South Wales	3 414.9	3 498.6	3 522.0	3 581.1	3 602.5
Victoria	2 719.9	2 796.4	2 820.1	2 843.0	2 862.1
Queensland	2 215.3	2 254.8	2 284.3	2 287.2	2 320.0
South Australia	793.2	805.1	809.0	809.6	799.7
Western Australia	1 183.5	1 224.3	1 276.5	1 322.4	1 337.3
Tasmania	236.1	239.1	236.1	233.7	232.9
Northern Territory	119.6	121.1	122.6	127.2	133.0
Australian Capital Territory	202.4	207.4	208.2	211.3	210.8
Australia	10 884.9	11 146.9	11 278.8	11 415.4	11 498.2

Annual change – per cent
New South Wales	0.7	2.5	0.7	1.7	0.6
Victoria	2.4	2.8	0.8	0.8	0.7
Queensland	0.4	1.8	1.3	0.1	1.4
South Australia	0.6	1.5	0.5	0.1	-1.2
Western Australia	0.0	3.5	4.3	3.6	1.1
Tasmania	-1.4	1.3	-1.3	-1.0	-0.4
Northern Territory	2.3	1.3	1.3	3.7	4.6
Australian Capital Territory	1.4	2.5	0.4	1.5	-0.2
Australia	0.9	2.4	1.2	1.2	0.7


(a) Total full-time and part-time employed; annual average of monthly data.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour force, Australia, cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, July 2015.

1.2 Unemployment

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Number unemployed (a) – '000
New South Wales	204.9	185.7	192.2	197.6	217.3
Victoria	158.2	148.3	159.9	170.4	189.4
Queensland	132.5	129.1	133.1	143.8	148.8
South Australia	45.0	46.3	45.6	49.5	57.8
Western Australia	61.9	55.9	53.5	61.3	68.1
Tasmania	14.0	14.2	15.9	18.2	19.4
Northern Territory	4.2	3.6	5.6	6.2	6.1
Australian Capital Territory	7.5	7.6	8.1	9.1	8.4
Australia	628.1	590.7	613.9	656.2	715.2

Unemployment rate (a) (b) – per cent
New South Wales	5.7	5.0	5.2	5.2	5.7
Victoria	5.5	5.0	5.4	5.7	6.2
Queensland	5.6	5.4	5.5	5.9	6.0
South Australia	5.4	5.4	5.3	5.8	6.7
Western Australia	5.0	4.4	4.0	4.4	4.8
Tasmania	5.6	5.6	6.3	7.2	7.7
Northern Territory	3.4	2.9	4.4	4.7	4.5
Australian Capital Territory	3.6	3.5	3.7	4.1	3.8
Australia	5.5	5.0	5.2	5.4	5.8


(a) Annual average of monthly data.
(b) Number unemployed as a proportion of the labour force. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour force, Australia, cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, July 2015.

1.3 Labour force

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Labour force (a) – '000
New South Wales	3 619.8	3 684.3	3 714.2	3 778.7	3 819.8
Victoria	2 878.1	2 944.6	2 980.0	3 013.4	3 051.5
Queensland	2 347.8	2 383.9	2 417.4	2 431.0	2 468.8
South Australia	838.1	851.4	854.6	859.1	857.5
Western Australia	1 245.4	1 280.2	1 330.0	1 383.7	1 405.4
Tasmania	250.1	253.4	252.0	251.9	252.3
Northern Territory	123.7	124.7	128.2	133.4	139.1
Australian Capital Territory	209.9	215.0	216.2	220.4	219.1
Australia	11 513.0	11 737.6	11 892.7	12 071.6	12 213.4

Participation rate (a) (b) – per cent
New South Wales	63.2	63.5	63.2	63.5	63.2
Victoria	65.2	65.7	65.4	65.0	64.6
Queensland	67.5	67.3	67.0	66.1	65.9
South Australia	63.2	63.5	63.2	62.9	62.2
Western Australia	68.3	68.4	68.8	69.1	68.2
Tasmania	61.0	61.2	60.5	60.4	60.2
Northern Territory	73.0	72.5	73.6	74.1	75.3
Australian Capital Territory	72.8	73.2	72.5	72.6	71.2
Australia	65.3	65.5	65.3	65.1	64.7


(a) Annual average of monthly data.
(b) Labour force as a proportion of the civilian population aged 15 years and over.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour force, Australia, cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, July 2015

1.4 Long-term unemployed

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Long-term unemployed (a) (b) – '000
New South Wales	34.3	33.5	31.6	33.8	42.2
Victoria	23.0	21.3	22.1	21.3	28.6
Queensland	15.1	18.8	17.4	21.8	25.7
South Australia	7.2	7.9	8.1	9.0	11.5
Western Australia	5.7	6.2	5.6	5.8	8.2
Tasmania	2.4	2.2	2.9	3.6	4.7
Northern Territory	0.3	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.5
Australian Capital Territory	0.6	0.6	0.8	0.8	1.1
Australia	88.5	91.0	89.0	96.7	122.5

Long-term unemployed (a) (b) – percentage of total unemployed
New South Wales	16.7	18.0	16.4	17.1	19.4
Victoria	14.5	14.4	13.8	12.5	15.1
Queensland	11.4	14.6	13.1	15.1	17.3
South Australia	16.0	17.1	17.7	18.3	19.9
Western Australia	9.2	11.1	10.4	9.4	12.0
Tasmania	17.4	15.7	18.1	19.7	24.3
Northern Territory	7.4	13.1	11.4	9.7	7.9
Australian Capital Territory	7.4	7.6	9.5	8.7	12.9
Australia	14.1	15.4	14.5	14.7	17.1


(a) Annual average of monthly data.
(b) Unemployed for 52 weeks or more and looking for full-time work.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour force, Australia, cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, July 2015

1.5 Youth unemployment

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Unemployed youth (a) (b) – '000
New South Wales	48.3	40.3	42.4	44.9	45.3
Victoria	32.0	32.5	35.0	34.2	36.4
Queensland	35.3	35.8	34.7	38.2	40.6
South Australia	11.3	11.1	10.1	11.1	13.2
Western Australia	14.9	14.0	13.2	13.8	15.4
Tasmania	3.0	3.2	4.0	4.3	4.9
Northern Territory	1.2	1.1	1.4	2.1	1.7
Australian Capital Territory	1.7	1.6	1.7	2.2	1.7
Australia	147.6	139.6	142.5	150.8	159.1

Youth unemployment rate (a) (c) – per cent
New South Wales	14.5	12.5	13.1	14.0	14.6
Victoria	12.7	12.7	13.7	14.5	15.8
Queensland	13.9	14.1	13.8	15.3	16.7
South Australia	14.9	14.5	13.8	15.5	20.3
Western Australia	10.8	10.3	9.6	9.8	11.6
Tasmania	12.2	13.0	17.1	20.0	22.0
Northern Territory	8.7	7.3	9.3	14.2	10.4
Australian Capital Territory	7.7	7.3	8.0	10.2	10.6
Australia	13.3	12.6	12.9	14.0	15.4


(a) Annual average.
(b) 15–24 year olds looking for full-time work.
(c) 15–24 year olds looking for full-time work as a proportion of the full-time labour force of the same age.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour force, Australia, cat. no. 6291.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, July 2015

1.6 Industrial disputes

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Working days lost – '000
New South Wales	39.9	31.9	125.2	26.8	27.4
Victoria	29.8	53.3	71.8	102.6	28.8
Queensland	19.5	53.0	64.8	63.3	11.7
South Australia	2.4	4.2	0.7	0.0	3.4
Western Australia	32.2	7.5	8.1	5.4	14.0
Tasmania	1.0	0.0	0.1	0.6	0.0
Northern Territory	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	3.1
Australian Capital Territory	0.0	0.0	2.0	0.1	0.5
Australia	126.6	159.7	293.1	207.6	89.0

Working days lost per '000 employees
New South Wales	13.2	10.2	39.2	8.2	8.4
Victoria	12.5	20.8	28.1	39.9	11.2
Queensland	10.0	25.8	31.1	30.4	5.5
South Australia	3.4	5.8	1.0	0.1	4.7
Western Australia	30.9	7.1	7.5	4.6	11.4
Tasmania	4.8	0.0	0.6	2.8	0.4
Northern Territory	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.0	24.9
Australian Capital Territory	0.0	0.0	10.6	0.3	2.9
Australia	13.2	15.9	28.8	20.2	8.5


Source: ABS, Industrial disputes, Australia, cat. no. 6321.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra, March 2015.

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