Editor's Blog

A recent report from The Australia Institute showed that two in three new jobs in Queensland would come in the healthcare, professional and technical services, education and training, accommodation and food services and construction areas from now and probably well into the next 2 decades.

This is great news for the second-largest and third-most-populous state in Australia as job growth in these areas are outstripping job losses in the mining industry, notes the report.

In January, the Queensland Resources Council noted that the mining industry had cut over 20,000 jobs over two years. This is more than a quarter of the mining workforce.  Fortunately, over the same period total employment in Queensland increased by 72,000 due to strong employment growth in other industries, particularly services.

“ABS data show that after some volatile years, there have been marked improvements. Last year jobs growth in Queensland hit a seven year high, the unemployment rate fell, and all this while the participation edged upwards and the mining industry shed a record amount of jobs” said Tom Swann, Researcher at The Australia Institute and report co-author.

The Australian Institute report was released ahead of Queensland’s Jobs Growth Summit last week which brought together academics, industry heads and politicians to identify trends in Queensland's future jobs creation.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said she wanted to hear from 'industries at the frontline of job creation' in Queensland about how growth could continue over the next decade.

Treasurer Curtis Pitt says the latest forecasts showing Queensland’s population could reach close to seven million in the next 20 years underlines the importance of all levels of government working together to plan for growth and create jobs.

Mr Pitt said the latest figures from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office predicting a state population of 6.8 million by 2036 – up from the current 4.8 million — vindicated the Palaszczuk Government's long-term plan for infrastructure, business attraction, and record investments in health and education.