5.1% ▲ +7.9%
- 2011: 4.7%
- 2016: 7.8%
- 2021: 5.1%
Unemployed people as a share of the labour force (aged 15+).
Western Australia · State / Territory
Jobs & Industry in Western Australia
Work across the area — who is in the labour force, in which industries and jobs.
Health care and social assistance is the biggest employer in Western Australia, where 13.6% of the workforce is employed in the sector. The state has a strong job market, with a typical share of adults working or looking for work that is higher than the national figure.
Labour force
Employment, participation and unemployment.
About 63.9% of adults are working or looking for work, which is a little above the Australian figure. Full-time employment is also slightly higher than the national average at 60.2%, although this is 3.5 percentage points lower than in 2011.
63.9% ▼ -0.2%
- 2011: 64.0%
- 2016: 62.9%
- 2021: 63.9%
Share of people aged 15+ who are in the labour force.
60.2% ▼ -5.5%
- 2011: 63.7%
- 2016: 61.8%
- 2021: 60.2%
Share of employed people who worked full-time.
Industries
The industries that employ local workers.
The most common industries for workers are health care and social assistance (13.6%), followed by construction, retail trade, and education and training, which each account for 8.8% of jobs. Mining employs 7.5% of the workforce.
Occupations
The kinds of jobs people do.
Professionals make up the largest group of workers at 22.0%. Other common roles include technicians and trades (15.3%), managers (12.3%), and clerical or administrative staff (12.1%).
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Western Australia
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Jobs & Industry in Western Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ste/5/western-australia/topic/employment