According to the data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), payroll jobs experienced a minor reduction of 0.2% during the period leading up to July 15, 2023, following a 0.3% increase in the previous month.
Bjorn Jarvis, the Head of Labour Statistics at ABS, explained, “The latest data for the month indicates a slowing in job growth coinciding with the school holidays and the usual end-of-financial-year seasonality typically observed in payroll reporting.”
It’s worth noting that around the end of each financial year, reporting variability tends to be higher as employers finalize their employees’ earnings, and the payroll reporting financial year resets. This variance in reporting can make interpreting changes in payroll jobs during this period more complex than usual until business reporting is completed.
“During June and July, estimates of payroll jobs may undergo slightly more revisions than during other times of the year. This trend continues until business reporting for the previous financial year is concluded,” Jarvis elaborated.
Analyzing the labor market’s performance over the most recent year’s data up to mid-July 2023, payroll jobs had grown by 3.7%. Although this growth was slightly less than the annual rate published the previous year for the 12 months leading up to mid-July 2022, which was at 4.5%.
“This suggests a potential slowdown in the labor market compared to the relatively robust growth observed throughout 2022,” remarked Mr. Jarvis.
It is important to note that the variations between the states and territories can be partially attributed to the different timing of their Winter term breaks. These differences are particularly evident in the Education and Training industry.
When considering the annual changes until mid-July, the rate of payroll job growth ranged from 6.3% in the Northern Territory to 3.2% in New South Wales.
For further analysis and insights into Australia’s labor market trends, refer to the official reports published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
https://www.abs.gov.au//media-centre/media-releases/payroll-jobs-fell-02-cent-mid-july