State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: HS-24 Employment rates by population industry and region

Data

Employed Persons and Employment to Population ratio Australia - 1978-2004

Employed Persons and Employment to Population ratio Australia - 1978-2004

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Labour Force, Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Table 01

Unemployment Rate Australia 1975-2005

Unemployment Rate Australia 1975-2005

Source: Australian Government 2005, Budget 2005-06: Budget Overview Chartpack, viewed N/A.

Employment in Singleman's Industry classes Australia - 1984-2004

Employment in Singleman's Industry classes Australia - 1984-2004

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Labour Force Australia Detailed Electronic Delivery, Canberra, Table 04: Employed persons by industry

Final consumption expenditure* of households Australia - 1995/96-2003/04

Final consumption expenditure* of households Australia - 1995/96-2003/04

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Australian System of National Accounts 2003-04, Cat. No. 5204.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, p.26

Number of Employed Persons ('000)
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Number ('000) 7634 7781 8093 8301 8381 8496 8681 8917 9130 9232 9459
Percentage of population at work 43.4 43.7 45.0 45.5 45.4 45.6 46.1 46.8 47.2 47.2 47.8

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Australian Social Trends 2004, Cat. No. 4102.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, p.201.

Employed persons by industry Sector (Singleman's classification) – 1986-2004
(Figures given below are those for quarters ending in November of particular year)
Extractive Transformative Distributive Producer Services Social Services Personal Services
No. (’000) % No. (’000) % No. (’000) % No. (’000) % No. (’000) % No. (’000) %
1986 525.2 7.5 1758.7 25.1 1945.2 27.7 782.0 11.1 1390.6 19.8 612.6 8.7
1991 500.3 6.5 1710.5 22.4 2099.9 27.5 955.9 12.5 1580.6 20.7 797.4 10.4
1996 508.9 6.1 1785.7 21.3 2304.8 27.5 1147.0 13.7 1732.2 20.7 896.7 10.7
2001 531.5 5.8 1836.5 20.1 2389.2 26.2 1370.8 15.0 1939.6 21.3 1047.8 11.5
2004 462.3 4.8 1999.0 20.6 2535.8 26.1 1450.7 14.9 2120.2 21.8 1150.0 11.8

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Employed persons by industry, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Table 04

Employed persons working at home 1989, 1995 and 2000
1989 # 1995 # 2000*
Persons (’000) % Persons (’000) % Persons (’000) %
Worked no hours at home 5933.0 77.2 6191.5 74.2 6794.6 75.5
Worked some hours at home 1750.2 22.3 2149.0 25.8 1794.8 19.9
Persons employed at home 266.6 3.5 343.3 4.1 980.3 10.9
Total 7683.3 8340.6 9000.5

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996, Persons employed at home, Australia, September1995, p.67

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001, Locations of Work, Australia, June 2000, Australian Bureau of Statistics, p.3

Number of persons employed at home by sector (Singleman’s classification) and Percentage of number in total minus extractive sector
Australia – 1989-2000
1989 1992 1995 2000
No (’000) % No (’000) % No (’000) % No (’000) %
Transformative 72.3 28.1 74.3 24.9 93.5 27.2 156.2 20.6
Distributive 57.6 22.4 68.6 23.0 64.5 18.8 135.4 17.9
Producer Services 47.1 18.3 61.8 20.7 75.3 21.9 183.4 24.2
Social Services 41.2 16.0 44.8 15.0 43.2 12.6 165.5 21.9
Personal Services 37.2 14.4 46.3 15.5 49.1 14.3 100.2 13.2
Total minus Extractive sector 257.5 100.0 298.4 100.0 343.3 100.0 756.9 100.0

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2000, Persons employed at home, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1992 (Table 2); 1995 (Table 6); 2000 (Table 10).

What the data mean

The number of persons employed in Australia has continued to increase between 1978 and 2004. The percentage of the population in employment has also continued to increase. (Figure 1) Unemployment rate was down to 5.1% in March 2005, the lowest recorded since 1976 (Figure 2).

The proportion of persons employed in the three Singleman’s classes relating to services has increased while those in the extractive and manufacturing classes have decreased.

The number of employed persons who worked from home has increase by 17% over the period from 1989 to 2000. During the same period this number as a percentage of total persons employed has increased three-fold from 3.5% to 11%.

The proportion of people working from home employed in the services sectors has increased over the period 1989-2000, while there has been a decrease in the proportion working in the transformative and distributive sectors.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — Liveability of human settlements - Economic aspects of human settlements 

Levels of employment are important factors in determining the standard of living of its residents and the liveability of the settlement.

Other indicators for this issue:

Further Information

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