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Employment

A collection of 7 issues

Has Australia's Jobs Market Taken a Turn? What Does This Mean for Interest Rates?

Australian employment dropped sharply in September, but trend figures tell a more complicated story. With inflation still elevated, the RBA faces an increasingly difficult interest rate decision.

More than one job - what do we know?

The proportion of employed Australians holding multiple jobs has risen from 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent in a decade, with particularly large increases among younger workers.

Australians over 65 now hold 773,000 jobs

Australians aged 65 and over held around 773,000 jobs in June 2026, up from just 160,000 in 1996. Their share of all filled jobs has risen from 1.8 to 4.7 per cent.

Women hold more than 50% of all jobs in Australia

Women now hold 50.2 per cent of Australian filled jobs. But men still hold more main jobs — the difference is explained by women’s much greater share of secondary employment.

Australia’s jobs boom is increasingly a care-and-government story

Australia added about 1.29 million main jobs between June 2022 and June 2026. Health, education and public administration accounted for roughly 689,000 of them — 53.4 per cent of the total increase.

One-quarter of the economy generated almost half of the growth in hours worked under Labor

Nearly half of the increase in hours worked since Labor came to office has occurred in health, education and public administration. ABS data shows non-market hours grew 18.9%, compared with 7.6% across the market economy.

Australia’s productivity gap with the US is becoming embarrassing

Australia and the United States are recording similar GDP growth, but they are getting there very differently. Australian productivity fell over the year to June while US productivity rose strongly.