Construction booms, retail slides in ABS jobs report

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By Leith van Onselen

Commsec has released an interesting report summarising the quarterly employment report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which examines jobs growth by industry over the three months to August 2013.

According to Commsec, total employment fell by a non-seasonally adjusted 26,500 workers over the August quarter – the biggest quarterly loss of jobs in almost 13 years.

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The largest job losses were in Retail trade (down 36,600), followed by Education & training (down 27,800) and Accommodation & food services (down 17,700).

By contrast, low interest rates do appear to be supporting housing, with the construction industry registering a gain of 55,800 jobs over the quarter – the biggest quarterly rise in over ten years. And despite all the talk about austerity, Public administration & safety gained 45,400 jobs over the quarter – biggest quarterly rise for the sector in 20 years of records.

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Healthcare remains the biggest employer with 1.38 million employees (12% of the total), followed by Retail Trade (10.5% of total), and Construction (8.6% of total).

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Finally, manufacturing continues to decline, with jobs in the industry falling by 16,900 over the quarter, with the industry now accounting for only 7.9% of total employment – down from around 17% of total employment 30 years ago.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.