Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimates
Tourism Satellite Accounts: quarterly tourism labour statistics, Australia, experimental estimatesExperimental estimates of quarterly tourism employment and jobs to help explain the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism activity.
Key statistics
In June quarter 2020, there were 611,700 tourism filled jobs: This represents
- a decrease of 15.1% (-109,000) from June quarter 2019 compared to a 5.1% (-736,400) fall in the whole economy
- a decrease of 12.9% (-90,800) from March quarter 2020 compared to a 6.1% (-877,700) fall in the whole economy
- the lowest number of tourism filled jobs since June quarter 2014
- 4.5% of filled jobs in the economy, the lowest proportion on record
| Mar-19 to Jun-19 | Jun-19 to Sep-19 | Sep-19 to Dec-19 | Dec-19 to Mar-20 | Mar-20 to Jun-20 | Jun-19 to Jun-20 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | -3.0 | 0.6 | 2.4 | -12.5 | -18.5 | -26.5 |
| Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services | -2.5 | 5.0 | 3.2 | -6.7 | -16.5 | -15.6 |
| Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars | 5.9 | -4.2 | 4.3 | -6.9 | -9.3 | -15.6 |
| Rail transport | 0.0 | 0.0 | -6.9 | 0.0 | -3.7 | -10.3 |
| Road transport and transport equipment rental | -6.2 | 4.2 | -1.7 | 1.0 | -9.4 | -6.2 |
| Air, water and other transport | -1.4 | 7.6 | 3.3 | -6.6 | -10.4 | -7.0 |
| Travel agency and information centre services | 6.6 | -1.4 | -3.3 | -3.1 | -11.1 | -17.9 |
| Cultural services | -7.1 | 3.4 | 8.3 | -8.4 | -22.5 | -20.5 |
| Casinos and other gambling services | 4.9 | -2.3 | 0.0 | -2.4 | -12.2 | -16.3 |
| Sports and recreation services | 2.5 | -4.1 | 2.9 | -17.8 | -25.5 | -39.7 |
| Retail trade | -1.7 | -1.5 | 4.9 | -2.5 | -9.6 | -9.0 |
| Education and training | 5.2 | -0.5 | -1.2 | -2.4 | -3.9 | -7.7 |
| All other industries | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | -4.5 | -2.5 |
| Tourism total | -0.5 | 1.3 | 2.5 | -6.1 | -12.9 | -15.1 |
| Whole economy total | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.4 | -0.8 | -6.1 | -5.1 |
(a) Change on preceding quarter, except for the last column which shows the change between the current quarter and the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Impact of bushfires and COVID-19
The bushfires followed immediately by the COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the Australian economy with tourism particularly affected. This section looks at how tourism has been impacted over the period by comparing estimates of tourism filled jobs at the end of December 2019 with those at the end of June 2020.
Filled jobs
All references to "jobs" are referring to "filled jobs" unless otherwise specified. For information on the various measures of jobs (filled job, Labour Account main job and Labour Account secondary job), please refer to the Glossary in Methodology.
Overall impacts
- Tourism jobs peaked at 748,200 in December 2019 and are now at the lowest level (611,700) since June 2014.
- More females work in tourism than males so there were more jobs lost by females with a reduction of 88,100 (-21.5%) jobs compared to a fall of 48,300 (-14.3%) for males.
- While there are more full-time workers in tourism than part-time, part-time jobs were impacted more with the loss of 87,800 (-24.0%) jobs compared to 48,600 (-12.7%) full-time jobs.
Tourism hit disproportionately
Tourism has been more impacted by the bushfires and COVID-19 than the economy as a whole. Results show:
- Tourism jobs fell 18.2% (136,500 jobs) compared to 6.8% (992,300 jobs) in the whole economy.
- Tourism accounted for 4.5% of total jobs in June 2020, yet it accounted for 13.8% of job losses of the whole economy.
- The proportion of tourism jobs in the total economy fell to a record low.
Industry analysis
All tourism industries were impacted:
- On average, in the 10 years prior to 2020, jobs grew annually in all tourism industries except for rail transport which showed no change.
- In 2020, the number of jobs fell in all tourism industries.
| 10 year average | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | 0.8 | -24.0 |
| Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services | 7.6 | -34.2 |
| Clubs, pubs, taverns and bars | 1.5 | -9.0 |
| Rail transport | 0.0 | -0.3 |
| Road transport and transport equipment rental | 0.7 | -1.8 |
| Air, water and other transport | 0.2 | -2.4 |
| Travel agency and information centre services | 0.9 | -6.6 |
| Cultural services | 0.3 | -2.4 |
| Casinos and other gambling services | 0.1 | -0.7 |
| Sports and recreation services | 0.8 | -11.5 |
| Retail trade | 1.0 | -10.5 |
| Education and training | 2.4 | -5.0 |
| Total tourism characteristic and connected industries | 16.2 | -108.4 |
| All other industries | 0.3 | -0.6 |
| Total tourism filled jobs | 16.5 | -109.0 |
Tourism industry
From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, the tourism industries with the largest changes in the number of jobs were:
- Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services: -34,200 jobs (-15.6%)
- Accommodation: -24,000 jobs (-26.5%)
- Sports and recreation services: -11,500 jobs (-39.7%)
Status in employment
From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, tourism jobs changed by:
- -7.5% (-27,100) full-time jobs
- -22.7% (-81,800) part-time jobs
Sex
From June quarter 2019 to June quarter 2020, tourism jobs changed by:
- -12.2% (-40,300) for males
- -17.6% (-68,700) for females
Sex by status in employment
In June quarter 2020:
- part-time female jobs showed the largest annual decrease of 24.0% (-47,700 jobs)
- part-time female jobs also showed the largest quarterly decrease of 19.9% (-37,500 jobs)
| Male | Female | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-20 to Jun-20 | Jun-19 to Jun-20 | Mar-20 to Jun-20 | Jun-19 to Jun-20 | |
| Full-time | -3.9 | -3.7 | -11.3 | -10.9 |
| Part-time | -16.3 | -21.1 | -19.9 | -24.0 |