Full-time work on the rise, data says
LEE Chang is among a growing number of Cairns jobseekers to have secured fulltime work in the city.
The newly-signed chef at Smith St Cafe at Cairns North has just returned from three months’ paternity leave, caring for his second child, but said casual work was easier to pick up across Cairns than more secure roles.
“It’s been great for me to find this job,” he said.
“The more qualifications and knowledge and skills you have in this industry, the better for finding full-time work.”
This week’s Herron Todd White CairnsWatch March report revealed “a distinct move to full-time employment creation, or employment conversion from part-time to fulltime, as opposed to new parttime and casual jobs”.
Trended employment figures for the Cairns Region including the Cassowary Coast, Douglas and the Tablelands, estimated 117,500 people were employed during February 2018, compared to a revised trend estimate of 117,400 employed during the previous month.
“There was a significant reduction in the region’s unemployment rate during 2016, but despite additional job growth, the declines in the region’s unemployment rate have since steadied out as a result of more people joining the search for work,” report author Rick Carr said. “The Cairns region had a seasonally adjusted trend unemployment rate of 6 per cent as at February 2018, the same as in January 2018.
“The trend in the number of jobs being advertised on employment websites for the Cairns and Far North region has built strongly over the past 12 months, albeit that growth rate now appears to have tapered off.
“Even so, the seasonally adjusted trend in the number of jobs being advertised in February 2018 is 17.3 per cent higher than it was in February 2017.
Cafe owner Ainsley White said, after almost five years in business, she was finally able to employ two full-time staff, Mr Chang and a barista, yet to be appointed.
“Expanding the shop space enabled me to build a kitchen out the back which has allowed me to grow my customer base,” she said. “I used to only do breakfast on a Saturday, but it’s such a big thing I now do it six days a week.”
Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Nick Loukas said the CairnsWatch report was reinforcing with data what business owners had been noticing in the city.
“We’ve been saying business confidence has been growing and this will keep confidence ticking,” he said.