FASTEST GROWING CAPITAL CITIES IN 2016–17
HOW BIG IS AUSTRALIA AS A GLOBAL MARKET?
Right now the world’s population is approximately 7.6 billion. New Zealand, often the first overseas location for a franchise looking to expand globally, has a population of just 4.8 million.
Other popular export destinations are the US (328 million) and the UK (66 million).
What differentiates our market and offers both challenges and opportunities for both incoming and domestic businesses is the coastal concentration of population and lack of infrastructure in a vast interior.
WHEN WILL AUSTRALIA REACH 26 MILLION?
Over the past three years, Australia’s population has grown by around 400,000 people per year. If this trend continues, the country’s population would be expected to reach 26 million in about three years’ time.
EMPLOYMENT AND HOURS
In July 2018 trend employment increased by about 27,000 people with 18,000 individuals taking on full-time employment. The trend participation rate remained steady at 65.5 per cent.
Over a year, trend employment grew by 2.4 per cent (approximately 300,000 people), which was above the average year-on-year growth over the past 20 years (2 per cent).
Statistics show that the the trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.2 per cent in July 2018 and by 1.9 per cent over the past year.
STATES AND TERRITORIES
With the exception of Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia, yearon-year growth in trend employment for states and territories was above their 20 year average.
Over the past year, the states and territories with the strongest annual growth in trend employment were Northern Territory (3.5 per cent), New South Wales (3.2 per cent) and Victoria (2.5 per cent).
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
The seasonally adjusted number of people employed dropped in July 2018 by about 4000. At the same time, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5.3 per cent and the labour force participation rate in Australia lowered to 65.5 per cent.
WHAT DO WE EARN?
With the help of the Australian Taxation Office, the ABS is able to paint a picture of the income trends. The Australian median personal income in 2015–16 was $47,692; that’s an increase of 1.8 per cent from the previous 12 months.
The figures released in June reveal the Australian Capital Territory tops the stats for the state/territory with the highest median income: $63,084 in 2015–16.
Over the past six years, the Northern Territory has seen the highest growth in income at 21.1 per cent; even higher in Darwin with a 23.3 per cent increase.
High median incomes were recorded in some local government areas in Western Australia. Bjorn Jarvis, the ABS’s head of labour statistics, says, “Western Australia had four of the top five local government areas with the highest median income.
"However, despite four of the five highest median income regions being in Western Australia, it was also the only state to experience a decrease in the overall median income. These figures are important to understanding changes in income in WA, following the mining boom," he says.