The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released employment data for the November quarter, which has revealed some interesting and, quite frankly, counter-intuitive results.
First, the below chart shows the non-seasonally adjusted change in employment by industry:
As you can see, the construction industry has led jobs growth, adding 51,700 jobs over the quarter and more than reversing the loss of -34,200 jobs in the previous quarter. By contrast mining lost -8,400 jobs, which adds to the -4,600 jobs lost in the prior quarter.
It’s a different result over the year, however, with the construction industry shedding -21,400 jobs over the year and mining adding 20,500 jobs:
The public service is now the biggest loser over the year, shedding -39,300 jobs despite lifting employment by 9,900 in the latest quarter.
Strangely, the rebound in construction industry jobs was driven by Victoria (+33,800), where new home sales have literally crashed and dwelling approvals are now coming off the boil. Queensland also experienced solid construction industry jobs growth (+13,600):
At the capital city level, Melbourne was the big winner this quarter, driving the lion’s share of new jobs (+25,900), driven by construction. Adelaide (+14,900) and Perth (+13,100) also registered strong jobs growth, the former driven by the retail trade (+8,400) and transport (+5.400) industries, and the latter by the health care (+7,700) and the accommodation & food services (+7,000) industries:
Finally, the below chart captures the extent of industry change in Australia by showing the decline in employment since peak for each individual industry. Not surprisingly, manufacturing and agriculture are the biggest losers owing to their relative contractions over a long period of time:
*Note: the capital city data has been updated after an error was located.
Twitter: Leith van Onselen. He is the Chief Economist of Macro Investor, Australia’s independent investment newsletter covering trades, stocks, property and yield. Click for a free 21 day trial.
