Full-time jobs surge in Cairns but employment growth still below state average
It's been another fairly neutral month on the jobs front in Cairns, with only small changes to any indicators.
The Trend unemployment rate has increased slightly to 6.2% despite jobs picking up a little. The unemployment rate in Cairns appears to have settled at a level similar to the state average and we
can expect any further falls to be tied to declines at a state level.
Annual Trend employment growth now stands at just +1.9% in Cairns versus +4.7% for QLD, +5.1% in Greater Brisbane and +4.3% in the Rest of Queensland.
Over the course of the past 12 months most new employment has come in the older (45+ years) cohort (up 7,200) with youth also stronger (up 4,400) while the middle aged seeing drops (down 9,400).
The big story for Cairns is the fact that full-time jobs have grown strongly (up 5,500 for the year) at an annual rate of 7.2%, while part-time positions have shrunk.
Clearly the underlying labour market is somewhat stronger than the headline numbers would suggest.
The quarterly Conus Trend Industry Jobs data shows that the sectors seeing the best gains over the past
year were Construction, Accommodation & Food and Healthcare.
Declines were seen in Retail Trade and Education & Training.
To read from Pete Faulkner, visit the Conus blog here.
