The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has published the first quarterly iteration of the Australian Labour Account, which includes all jobs across industries, including secondary jobs.
"The Australian Labour Account provides the most complete picture of the labour market, and a measure of the total number of jobs worked. This means we can gauge the total hours worked and income across multiple jobs - not just people’s main job," said Bruce Hockman, Chief Economist at the ABS.
The Australian Labour Account provides information across the 19 industry divisions, available for each quarter from September 2010 to September 2017.
"These new estimates show that, through the year to September 2017, the professional, scientific and technical services industry increased by over 13 per cent, the fastest of any industry in the economy," Mr Hockman said.
This industry, which includes (but is not limited to) architecture, engineering, computer systems design, law and accountancy, now has over 1.1 million jobs, representing 8.6 per cent of all filled jobs. It is now the fourth largest industry in the economy, behind the health care and social assistance, retail trade and accommodation and food services industries.
"The Australian Labour Account showed that over 70,000 of these jobs in the professional, scientific and technical services industry were secondary jobs, where the person had another main job," Mr Hockman said.
The number of hours worked in professional, scientific and technical services increased by 11.8 per cent to 481.2 million hours through the year to September 2017. Total labour income in the industry increased by 16.0 per cent to $26.6 billion over the same period.
The quarterly Australian Labour Account provides a framework through which to use existing labour market data from diverse sources. It is also an important new source of industry information that is expected to lead to improvements in the measurement of productivity in Australia.
TREND ESTIMATES
In trend terms the total number of jobs in Australia increased by 120,440 (or 0.9%), made up of 7,294 job vacancies and 113,146 filled jobs.
Filled jobs in Australia grew by 0.8% in the September quarter 2017, following a 1.0% rise in the June quarter 2017. Jobs grew 3.0% through the year in trend terms. The number of main jobs grew by 89,600 an increase of 0.7%; while secondary jobs grew by 23,546 an increase of 2.7% in the September quarter 2017.
The total number of employed persons increased by 0.8% to 12.8 million in the September quarter 2017.
The total number of hours actually worked increased by 1.0% to 5,232 million hours and the total labour income increased by 1.1% to 235,856 million dollars.
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES
Jobs
Filled jobs in Australia grew by 0.7% in the September quarter 2017, following a 1.4% rise in the June quarter 2017. Jobs grew 3.2% through the year in seasonally adjusted terms.
The total number of jobs in Australia increased by 104,901 (or 0.8%), made up of 12,155 job vacancies and 92,746 filled jobs.
The number of main jobs grew by 68,490 an increase of 0.5%; while secondary jobs grew by 24,256 an increase of 2.8% in the September quarter 2017.
Persons
The total number of employed persons increased by 0.9% to 12.8 million in the September quarter 2017.
The proportion of employed persons working more than one job was 6.8% in the September quarter 2010 and 6.9% in the September quarter 2017.
Volumes
The total number of hours actually worked increased by 0.9% to 5,239 million hours; while the total number of hours paid increased 0.9% to 5,629 million hours.
Payments
Total labour income increased by 1.1% to 235,892 million dollars.
Total compensation of employees increased by 1.2% to 212,857 million dollars, and labour income from self-employment decreased by 0.2% to 23,034 million dollars.
Over the same period, total labour costs increased by 2,866 million dollars (1.2%) to 250,208 million dollars.
Ratios
Average income per person increased by 0.2% to $18,361 in the September quarter 2017.
Average hours worked per job increased by 0.2% to 382 hours.
Average labour cost per hour paid remained the same at $44.
Average hourly income per Labour Accounts Employed Person worked per job is the hours actually worked divided by all filled jobs.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Note: All estimates are in seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Hours actually worked increased by 2.1% in the September quarter 2017, largely driven by growth in the number of filled jobs. A record 240 million hours were worked in September 2017.
Mining
Mining recorded its third consecutive quarter of positive jobs growth in the September quarter 2017, increasing by 1.9%. There were 6,500 more filled jobs than in December 2016, when jobs decreased to their lowest level in five years of 155,100 jobs.
Manufacturing
Filled jobs increased by 1.0% in the September quarter 2017 to 873,500 jobs, the highest since December 2015. Average labour cost per hour worked continued to moderate, decreasing slightly to $46.92.
Electricity, gas, water and waste services
Secondary jobs doubled between the September quarter 2010 and the September quarter 2017. This increased the secondary job share of filled jobs for this industry from 1.7% to 2.9%.
Construction
Compensation of employees in the Construction industry increased by 2.6% in September quarter 2017 to reach $17.9 billion. This was a record high for the industry.
Wholesale trade
Total jobs for Wholesale trade fell by 2.3% in September quarter 2017, with a decrease in both filled jobs (2.3%) and vacant jobs (5.4%). The number of secondary jobs rose in September 2017 for the second consecutive quarter for this industry.
Retail trade
The number of total jobs in Retail trade was relatively flat in September quarter 2017, with a small rise in filled jobs (1.0%) partially offset by an 8.1% decrease in job vacancies. Although there was a 3.1% decrease from the previous quarter, Retail trade recorded the highest number of underutilised persons of any industry in September 2017.
Accommodation and food services
Filled jobs in Accommodation and food services rose by 2.1% in September quarter 2017, with an increase in both main jobs (1.9%) and secondary jobs (5.1%). This industry provided 9.4% of Australia’s secondary jobs this quarter, ranking third behind Administrative and support services and Health care and social assistance.
Transport, postal and warehousing
Total jobs in Transport, postal and warehousing rose by 5.8% in September quarter 2017, with an increase in both vacant jobs (10.9%) and filled jobs (5.7%). Incomes did not increase as strongly, causing the average hourly income to fall (7.7%) for the second consecutive quarter.
Information, media and telecommunications
September quarter 2017 was the third consecutive quarter the Information media and telecommunications industry experienced a drop in the total labour force (-2.0%). This coincided with the first decrease in the number of secondary jobs (8.2%) since June 2016, and the first rise in labour costs since September 2016 (1.9%).
Financial and insurance services
The Financial and insurance services industry labour force experienced its fourth consecutive rise in September quarter 2017, increasing 2.1%. This was accompanied by a 2.1% rise in hours actually worked, and a 2.1% increase in available hours of labour supply.
Rental, hiring and real estate services
Total jobs in Rental, hiring and real estate services industry rose by 2.7% in September quarter 2017. This was caused primarily by a 2.2% increase in main jobs, and was slightly offset by a decrease in job vacancies (-2.4%).
Professional, scientific and technical services
Professional, scientific and technical services saw a 3.4% rise in the labour force total in September quarter 2017, driven by a 3.4% increase in the number of employed persons. There was a drop of 1.9 million hours (8.4%) in the number of hours sought but not worked for Professional, scientific and technical services. This was consistent with the 1.2% decrease in the number of underutilised persons.
Administrative and support services
There was a drop of 2.8% in the number of filled jobs in Administrative and support services in September quarter 2017, driven by a decrease of 3.9% in the number of main jobs. The number of hours actually worked saw a 4.3% decrease in September 2017.
Public administration and safety
Public administration and safety saw significant movements in the number of underutilised persons in September quarter 2017, with a decrease of 21.4%. This coincided with a rise of 1.1% in the number of filled jobs.
Education and training
Education and training saw a 2.0% increase in filled jobs in September quarter 2017, driven by a 1.5% rise in the number of employed persons. This coincided with an increase in the number of hours worked actually worked of 0.5%.
Health care and social assistance
The Health care and social assistance industry average hourly income rose by 2.8% in September quarter 2017, placing it at a seven year industry high of $49.30 per hour. Job vacancies were also at a seven year high after rising 8.1% to 22,900 vacancies.
Arts and recreation services
The Arts and recreation services industry labour force fell for the second consecutive quarter, decreasing by 0.8% in September quarter 2017. The labour force now stands at 225,600 persons, which is 7,800 persons more than the labour force was in September 2010.
Other services
The number of filled jobs in the Other services industry continued this year's growth pattern, increasing by 0.9% in September quarter 2017. This industry also saw a rise in employed persons (1.2%), a fall in underemployed persons (11.1%) and a drop in underutilised persons (7.7%).