❓ The question seeks clarification on the source and nature of 40,000 jobs claimed to be created since the launch of the 'our priorities' plan. The answer provides ABS data on employment increases, both overall and in regional WA, and clarifies how job classifications are counted.
AnsweredQoN 5412Legislative Assembly
Asked
27 August 2019
Member
Portfolio
Premier; Minister for Public Sector Management; State Development, Jobs and Trade; Federal-State Relations
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Premier's response to Question Without Notice No. 531, and the 40,000 jobs which the Premier states have been created since launching the “our priorities” plan, and ask: (a) Can the Premier advise where the 40,000 jobs have been created; (b) What percentage of that figure is in relation to jobs in the public sector; (c) What percentage of those jobs have been created in the regions and where in the regions were they created; and (d) Can the Premier confirm that transferring public servants on contracts or casual staff into permanent positions is not counted in the total jobs created, that he is referring to in the above?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
16 October 2019
Response time
13 days
(a-d) At the time the Member asked his original question, Western Australia had seen an increase of more than 40,000 employed persons in annual average employment numbers counted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) since the McGowan Government was elected. The Member will be pleased to know that that figure has now risen to 56,000 employed persons, according to the latest figures just released in September.
ABS Labour Force data shows the annual average of employed persons has increased from 1,303 million in 2016/17 to 1,344 million in 2018/19. This includes an increase of 12,182 employed persons recorded in the period 2017/18 to 2018/19.
In regional WA, employment numbers have increased from 313,894 to 324,258 over the period 2016/17 to 2018/19.
The ABS measure for the jobs targets identifies the number of people in employment as a total and not by specific industry. The ABS data used for the measure does not break down by individual regional areas.
Staff on contract or casual staff are already included in ABS definitions of ‘employed person’ and any transfer to permanency would not be included in the total number of people counted.
ABS Labour Force data shows the annual average of employed persons has increased from 1,303 million in 2016/17 to 1,344 million in 2018/19. This includes an increase of 12,182 employed persons recorded in the period 2017/18 to 2018/19.
In regional WA, employment numbers have increased from 313,894 to 324,258 over the period 2016/17 to 2018/19.
The ABS measure for the jobs targets identifies the number of people in employment as a total and not by specific industry. The ABS data used for the measure does not break down by individual regional areas.
Staff on contract or casual staff are already included in ABS definitions of ‘employed person’ and any transfer to permanency would not be included in the total number of people counted.
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