Blue-collar jobs slide but not professions
Managers and professionals have prospered through the economic downturn while tradespeople, machine operators and clerical staff have been laid off.
New employment figures show big swings in the labour force as industries such as manufacturing, property and construction bear the brunt, while sectors such as health and education have been relatively untouched.
Managers have been the big winners, with just on 100,000 new full-time positions created over the past year.
The only other occupation to achieve growth in full-time employment in the past year has been the professions, with a further 59,000 people recruited.
In the months directly after the collapse of Lehman Bros, it was thought that the world faced the first recession in which people on high incomes would suffer the most, an impression that was supported initially by sharp falls in top-end property prices.
However, the detailed industry and occupation employment figures show that it has been the traditional “blue-collar” jobs that have faced the biggest contraction, as is usually the case.
The number of full-time tradespeople has dropped by 107,400, while the number of machinery operators is down by 65,300, and labourers down 28,400.
University of Newcastle labour market specialist Bill Mitchell said the fact there was only a modest fall in overall employment to June this year disguised the fact that a lot of full-time jobs in industries such as manufacturing and construction were being lost.
“In the public service delivery, in the health system and, to some extent, in education, there has been growth in employment that would mainly be professionals.”
The health and education sectors have, between them, added 100,000 new positions over the past year. Health, which now matches retail as Australia’s biggest employer, accounted for two-thirds of these positions.
A more surprising source of jobs growth has been restaurants and accommodation, which increased its labour force by 5.4 per cent, or 38,300 people.
Manufacturing and the transport industries each lost about 30,000 positions, while the real estate industry shed 24,300 jobs.
Construction, despite government spending on schools and other infrastructure, nevertheless lost 13,500 jobs.
These big changes in industry and occupational employment show the human impact of the downturn has been much greater than implied by the total figures.
Jobs lost and gained in year to November
WINNERS
Managers .................. up ........ full-time ..... 99,700
Community workers .... up ....... part-time .... 84,500
Professionals ............. up ....... full-time ..... 59,000
Tradespeople ............. up ........ part-time ... 24,600
Labourers .................. up ........ part-time ... 19,700
Professionals ............. up ....... part-time .... 16,600
Clerical workers .......... up ....... part-time ... 11,400
Sales staff ................. up ........ full-time ..... 8400
LOSERS
Tradespeople ............. down .... full-time ..... -107,400
Machinery operators ... down ... full-time ..... -65,200
Clerical staff ............... down ... full-time ..... -37,600
Labourers .................. down .... full-time ..... -28,400
Community workers .... down ... full-time ..... -18,400
Source: ABS
First published December 2009.
