Australia Creates 19,600 Construction Jobs In Three Months

25 Mar 2013

The building market may be slow but if the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is to be believed, construction industry employment is on the rise.

Released last week, the figures show that the number of people employed in the industry rose from 1.0157 million in the quarter ended November last year to 1.0353 million in the three months to February, a rise of 19,600 jobs.

Even after seasonal factors are taken into account, employment numbers were up 14,100 compared to the February quarter last year and 17,800 over the three months to February 2011.

Furthermore, though many of the jobs created in the previous quarter were part-time, full-time numbers are up 9,900 year on year; an estimated 876,800 Australians were employed full-time in the construction industry during the quarter while a further 158,500 were employed part-time.

Master Builders Australia senior economist Peter Jones greeted the latest figures with ‘cautious optimism’, but warned much of the increase was linked to the slowing resources sector.

“The rise in employment is likely to be closely linked to the mining sector as anecdotal evidence from builders is that industry activity remains quite soft,” he says. “The question remains whether this recovery can be sustained given the mining sector are set to peak and the building sector remains weak, despite early signs of a muted recovery in housing.”

In terms of states, Queensland led the charge, adding 13,310 jobs in the three months to February followed by Western Australia (3,930 jobs), ACT (2,480) NT (1,320) Tasmania (580) and Victoria (320).

New South Wales, meanwhile, shed 1,770 jobs while the head count fell in South Australia by 600.

Year on year, employment numbers are up 21,740 in Queensland, 14,320 in Victoria, 1,860, 880 and 100 in Northern Territory, ACT and South Australia respectively, while the head count is down 21,190 in New South Wales, 2,810 in the Tasmania and perhaps surprisingly, 840 in Western Australia.

In percentage terms, however, the Northern Territory is the clear standout, having added almost 14 per cent to its workforce year on year as work fires up on the Ichthys project.

Source: http://designbuildsource.com.au/australia-creates-19600-construction-jobs-in-three-months