Western Australia has lost about 80,000 jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proportionally lower than any region other than the Northern Territory; while Bunbury, the Wheatbelt and inner Perth were the hardest hit parts of the state.
Western Australia has lost about 80,000 jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proportionally lower than any region other than the Northern Territory; while Bunbury, the Wheatbelt and inner Perth were the hardest hit parts of the state.
The WA fall in jobs was 5.9 per cent from March 14 to May 2, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ weekly payroll data.
That implies almost 81,000 job losses over the period.
It compares to a national fall of 7.3 per cent, with only the Northern Territory posting better figures, a 4 per cent reduction.
WA also seems to be slower in recovery than other states.
In the week to May 2, jobs fell 0.7 per cent in WA while Queensland, Tasmania, and the NT had an increase in employment. South Australia remained steady.
The ABS also revealed a regional breakdown of job losses for the first time, for the month to April 18.
Employment fell 8.5 per cent in Bunbury, 7.4 per cent in the Wheatbelt, and 6.7 per cent in inner Perth, while Mandurah was the least-affected area with a drop of only 4.5 per cent.
Wages
When it came to wage data, however, WA was at the bottom of the pack.
Total wages fell 7 per cent between March 14 and May 2, much more than the nation-wide 5.4 per cent drop.
In the week to May 2, wages recovered in a number of states including WA, where they rose 1.9 per cent compared to the prior week.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said national job losses slowed in mid-April and early May.
“The largest net job losses over the seven weeks of the COVID-19 period, in percentage terms, were in Victoria and NSW, where the falls in payroll jobs were around 8.4 per cent and 7.7 per cent,” he said.
“Payroll jobs worked by people under 20 continued to show the largest falls (-14.6 per cent), and were particularly high in some states and territories, such as the Australian Capital Territory (-19.2 per cent).
“The accommodation and food services industry had lost around a third of payroll jobs (33.3 per cent) by the week ending 11 April, and a subsequent increase in jobs saw this reduce to around 27.1 per cent by the week ending May 2.
“The week-to-week changes are much smaller than they were early in the COVID-19 period.
“The decrease in the number of jobs in the week ending May 2 was 1.1 per cent, which was only slightly larger than the 0.9 per cent increase in the week ending April 25.”
Retail
ANZ Banking Group data shows retail spending was up 15.3 per cent in the week to May 15 compared to the same period last year.
Food retail, household goods and department stores were all up, while fashion and dining/takeaway were down.
"But the excitement of freer movement (particularly in WA, Qld and NSW) seems to be already wavering," ANZ said.
"We still expect spending to spike with each announcement of restriction easing, but the longer term trend of retail spending is likely to be weak, reflecting reduced incomes and poorer financial stability for many households (though with some mitigation from JobKeeper/JobSeeker payments).
"The true growth in spending may be further from the early May peak than the data suggest, because use of cards increased (and cash decreased), and last year going into the election spending was subdued.
"These factors may inflate the year-on-year comparison."
