9.5% of the Australian workforce changed their employer or the business they operated in the year to February 2023 – maintaining the highest annual rate since 2012 – same rate 9.5% in February 2022.
The ABS estimates that 1.3 million Australian workers changed their employer or the business they operated in the year to February 2023. The absolute number of people changing businesses rose by 41,100 persons compared to the previous year, the highest annual job mobility since 2012 (Chart 2).
Gender: 9.4% of women changed jobs in the year while 9.7% of men changed jobs
Labour availability: 1.8 million people were not working but wanted to work in February 2023, same number with a year earlier. Of the 1.8 million, 1.0 million were available to start work straight away, and an additional 472,600 were available to start within four weeks.
Industries: the largest increase in job mobility in the year to February 2023 was recorded in utilities, transport and warehousing and rental, hiring and real estates. The only profession with reduced turnover were professional, scientific and technical services.
Occupation categories: sales workers, machinery operators & drivers and labourers were the most likely to change jobs in the 12 months to February 2023. Managers, were the least likely to change jobs in the 12 months to February 2022, followed by professionals (Table 1).
States and territories: the largest increase in job mobility in the year to February 2023 was recorded in the
Tasmania 10.3% (+1.4% y/y) and NSW 9.1% (+0.9% y/y).
| Total workforce (Feb 2023) | Changed jobs in past 12 months | Proportion of workforce that changed business in the past year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | '000s | '000s | % |
| Agriculture | 274.5 | 16.1 | 5.9 |
| Mining | 252.2 | 29.3 | 11.6 |
| Manufacturing | 809.0 | 78.1 | 9.8 |
| Utilities | 156.2 | 15.6 | 6.4 |
| Construction | 1,145.2 | 109.3 | 9.6 |
| Wholesale trade | 302.8 | 27.2 | 10.1 |
| Retail trade | 1,188.6 | 140.5 | 11.6 |
| Hospitality | 751.2 | 143.8 | 19.1 |
| Transport and warehousing | 616.7 | 71.4 | 9.5 |
| IT, Media & Telecomms | 186.0 | 18.0 | 10.1 |
| Financial and insurance | 494.5 | 48.4 | 10 |
| Rental and real estate services | 189.5 | 19.2 | 7.4 |
| Professional services | 1,129.8 | 114.2 | 11.6 |
| Administrative services | 361.6 | 41.8 | 11.8 |
| Public administration | 806.1 | 54.7 | 6.8 |
| Education and training | 1,030.8 | 66.3 | 6.4 |
| Health care | 1,852.1 | 137.4 | 9.7 |
| Arts and recreation services | 196.9 | 22.5 | 11.4 |
| Other services | 448.1 | 28.8 | 9 |
| All industries | 12,191.8 | 1,182.6 | 9.5 |
| Occupational group | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Managers | 1,688.3 | 128.1 | 7.6 |
| Professionals | 3,237.3 | 282.7 | 8.7 |
| Technicians & trades workers | 1,712.8 | 168.0 | 9.8 |
| Community & personal service workers | 1,284.3 | 137.1 | 10.7 |
| Clerical & administrative workers | 1,577.9 | 140.2 | 8.9 |
| Sales workers | 910.3 | 117.3 | 12.9 |
| Machinery operators & drivers | 730.2 | 86.4 | 11.8 |
| Labourers | 1,035.6 | 120.5 | 11.6 |
The statistics in this fact sheet were sourced from the Job Mobility, Australia survey conducted in February 2023 as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). This survey is one of the three topic-based-related releases as part of the Participation, Job Search and Mobility, Australia survey. This survey informs on the following broad labour market issues: labour force participation potential; underemployment and
marginal attachment; as well as job search experience and labour mobility.
These data illustrate the dynamic nature of the labour market and provides further insights into labour mobility – that is, the ability of workers to move between jobs – in Australia. The monthly labour force numbers are often interpreted in a static way, for example, in February 2020 the seasonally adjusted increase in employment of 19,300 people comprised of well over 300,000 people entering employment, and more than 300,000 leaving employment in the month.
Ai Group Economics and Research Team
Website: Research and Economics Resource Centre
Email: economics@aigroup.com.au
