The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the number of employed people in Australia has increased by 1.5 million since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic
“Filled jobs increased by 257,100 in the September 2024 quarter, continuing the growth momentum seen since the easing of Covid-19 delta variant measures in the December 2021 quarter,” said David Taylor, director of labour statistics at the ABS.
Overall, the number of filled jobs increased 1.6% to 16 million in the September quarter.
Employment increased across the board, with 15 of the 19 industries reporting increases in September, but the public service industry saw the largest increase in employment.
The number of Australians working in the healthcare sector surged in the September quarter. Image: NewsWire
The number of employees in the medical and health care and social assistance industries increased by 109,700, and the number of employees in the professional science and technology services industry increased by 306,000.
Those gains were partially offset by job losses in four remaining industries, including administrative and support services, which shed 26,100 jobs.
“Health care and social assistance continue to be the main drivers of labor market strength, with job growth at 4.3% in the quarter and at an annual rate of 11.4.
“This brings the total number of unfilled jobs in the industry to 2.6 million.”
Australians are not only working more, they are working harder, with hours worked growing by 0.8 per cent in the September quarter of 2024; however, the rate of growth is starting to slow.
“Working hours grew strongly, by 10.3 per cent, between the December 2021 quarter and the June 2023 quarter, while the job fill rate grew by only 6.6 per cent,” Taylor said.
“Quarterly hours worked have fallen since the June 2023 quarter and we are starting to see a more consistent relationship with other labour market indicators such as filled jobs and the employment rate, as shown in recent Labour Force Survey data.”
Nearly a million Australians currently work two jobs. Image credit: NewsWire / John Appleyard
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly one million Australians, or 6.6 per cent of the working-age population, currently work two jobs, above the long-term average of 5 per cent to 6 per cent.
Currently, 986,400 people work in multiple jobs, while 13.5 million people work in a single job.
Women are almost 2% more likely than men to work multiple jobs, and Australians aged 20 to 24 are the most likely to work multiple jobs.
Community and personal service workers were most likely to seek other employment, with just over 10% working for more than one employer.