Employment

Economy

Employment

Having a job and having enough work are very important to financial and personal wellbeing. This indicator measures employment, unemployment, underemployment and labour force participation in the Territory.

The Wellbeing Data Dashboard is intended to measure wellbeing progress over time, with updates made every two years.

ACT Treasury publishes the latest key economic indicators at Economic Indicators for the ACT.

Employment growth

This measure shows the change in the number of employed people compared to the same period in the previous year.

It is important to measure employment growth because it provides insights into the strength of our local economy. Employment plays a critical role in shaping:

The ACT labour market has performed strongly and 9,000 jobs have been added over the year to June 2023, growing by 3.5%.

This is much higher than the five-year average growth to June 2022 of 2.3%. It is also higher than the Australian growth rate of 3%.

Over time, employment growth has remained stable, though annual growth in employment by month is somewhat volatile.

ABS Labour Force, Australia (previously ABS Cat. no. 6202.0), July 2023, Tables 1 and 11a.

Line graph of employment growth in the ACT, by financial year and month from 2012-13 to 2022-23. In 2022-23, the employment rate grew 3.5% compared to 6.1% in 2021-22.

This information is on the basis of seasonally adjusted data from the labour force survey the ABS carries out every month across all Australian states and territories.

Participation rate

This measure shows the total number of people in the ACT working or in search of a job as a percentage of the working age population.

This is important because having a job and connection with the labour force provides financial independence. It supports our social connection and sense of personal achievement.

Labour force participation in the ACT has remained strong. Between July 2022 and June 2023 the rate was, on average, 1.1 percentage points higher than the five-year average (to June 2022) of 71.3%. The ACT continues to have one of the highest participation rates across Australia.

Over time, the ACT's participation rate has remained stable.

ABS Labour Force, Australia (previously ABS Cat. no. 6202.0), July 2023, Table 11a.

Line graph of the labour participation rate in the ACT, by financial year and month, from 2013-14 to 2022-23. In June 2022-23, the participation rate was 73% compared to 71.6% in June 2021-22.

This information is on the basis of seasonally adjusted data from the labour force survey the ABS carries out every month across all Australian states and territories.

The measure is calculated as a percentage of the working age population.

The working age population considers all ACT residents of 15+ age.

Underemployment rate

This measure shows the number of employed people who want more hours of work. Being underemployed can have a big impact on the financial, personal and social lives of people.

The ACT's underemployment rate has remained relatively stable in 2022-23, being 5.0% in both June 2022 and June 2023. This is 1.2 percentage points lower than the 5-year average to 30 June 2022. This reflects the strength in the ACT's labour market. The ACT's underemployment rate is one of the lowest in Australia.

Over time, the ACT's underemployment rate has reduced slightly.

ABS Labour Force, Australia (previously ABS Cat. no. 6202.0), July 2023, Table 23a.

Line graph of the underemployment rate in the ACT, by financial year and month, from 2013-14 to 2022-23. In June 2022-23 and 2021-22, the underemployment rate was 5%.

This information is on the basis of seasonally adjusted data from the labour force survey the ABS carries out every month across all Australian states and territories.

This measure shows the number of employed people who want and are available for more hours than they currently work as a percentage of the labour force. The size of the labour force is the number of people who are employed or are actively searching for a job.

Unemployment rate

This measure shows the rate of unemployment in the ACT. It is the number of people looking for work expressed as a percentage of the total number of people who have jobs or are looking for work.

It is important because not having a job can exclude people. They may not be able to get involved in many parts of everyday life. People who are unemployed may feel like they can't support themselves, their families or their communities. This may impact their overall levels of wellbeing.

The ACT labour market has performed strongly since June 2022. The unemployment rate fell from 3.1% in June 2022 to 2.5% in November 2022. It then increased to around 3% in May 2023. However, this figure is still low by historical standards. The ACT has one of the lowest unemployment rates across Australia.

Over time, the unemployment rate has decreased. However, there have been periods of higher unemployment due to disruptions from bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABS Labour Force, Australia (previously ABS Cat. no. 6202.0), July 2023, Table 11a.

Line graph of the unemployment rate in the ACT, by financial year. In June 2022-23, the unemployment rate was 3.9% compared to 3.1% in June 2021-22.

This information is on the basis of seasonally adjusted data from the labour force survey the ABS carries out every month across all Australian states and territories.

This measure shows the number of unemployed people expressed as a percentage of the labour force, which considers the number of people who are employed or in search of a job.