Millennium jobs boom for Tassie

ALMOST 50,000 more jobs now exist in Tasmania than at the turn of the century, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics — with five created for every one that has been lost over that period.

The data, collated for the

Mercury’s Future Tasmania series, reveals the health-care and social-assistance sector is the one that has boomed — with 15,000 more jobs in that industry in August 2019 than in August 2000.

The construction industry has also boomed, employing 10,000 more Tasmanians now than 19 years ago.

Third is the professional, scientific and technical services area which is up slightly more than accommodation and food services, education and training, and the public administration and safety sector.

At the other end of the chart, the manufacturing sector has declined by about 6000 jobs, followed by a loss of about 4000 jobs in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector.

Demographer Bernard Salt said the results for the healthcare sector reflected the national figures, but the big challenge he saw was in ensuring the education and training facilities were in place to prepare the next generation of Tasmanian construction workers.

He said the decline in the agricultural and forestry sector was probably the result of increasing mechanisation in those industries — which had offset the rise in the employment opportunities in aquaculture over the past decade.