Payroll jobs rise into June: Australia

Payroll jobs rose 0.1 per cent in the month to 11 June 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 continued to grow more slowly in 2022 than in 2021, apart from a short-term rise in jobs around the federal election in the Public administration and safety industry in May.

"The slower growth in payroll jobs over the month to mid-June continues to reflect the ongoing impacts of COVID-related disruption and short-term employee absences, particularly for people without paid leave entitlements."

The latest monthly increase of 0.1 per cent compared with a 0.4 per cent fall a year earlier, during Victoria's fourth lockdown during late May and mid-June 2021.

End March is the week ending 27 March 2021 and 26 March 2022. Easter fell at the start of April in 2021 and mid-April in 2022.

Payroll jobs can show slower growth and larger short-term changes than Labour Force statistics on employment, given employees without paid leave entitlements may be away from work for a short period without losing their job, particularly during holiday periods or when they are sick. Information on employed people working reduced or no hours in June will be available in next week's Labour Force release.

In addition, a higher level of variation in Single Touch Payroll reporting can occur during June and July, as employers undertake end of financial year reconciliation in their payrolls. This can result in higher than usual revisions over this period.

State and territory

Over the month to 11 June 2022, the largest growth in payroll jobs across state and territories were in the Northern Territory (up 0.6 per cent) and Queensland (up 0.4 per cent). These increases were largely seasonal and followed similar changes over the same period in 2021 (1.0 per cent and 0.5 per cent).

Industry

Payroll jobs increased over the month to 11 June 2022, in 10 of the 19 industries. The largest rises were in the Arts and recreation services (up 1.4 per cent) and Public administration and safety industries (up 1.1 per cent).

Overall, payroll jobs were 6.8 per cent higher at 11 June 2022 than at the start of the pandemic, and were higher than pre-pandemic levels in 14 of 19 industries.

While many industries have been heavily impacted by payroll job losses at various points during the pandemic, particularly Accommodation and food services and Arts and recreation services, most industries had returned to pre-pandemic levels at some stage before 11 June 2022.

However, two industries had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels at any stage during the pandemic, with payroll jobs in Transport, postal and warehousing being 5.4 per cent below mid-March 2020 and 2.5 per cent below in Manufacturing at mid-June 2022.

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.