WA Economic Profile for September 2017

Main updates this month

Labour market

• Employment rose by 32,800 (2.5 per cent) through the year to August 2017, with rising full-time employment offsetting falling part-time employment.
  • The largest increases in employment through the year to the September quarter 2017 were in construction, education and training, and healthcare and social assistance.
  • The largest falls in employment through the year to the September quarter 2017 were in manufacturing, business and property services, and retail and wholesale trade.
• Employment prospects are improving. The participation rate of 68.0 per cent in the September quarter 2017 was above the 67.6 per cent in the previous quarter and 67.2 per cent a year ago, and there were 19,300 job vacancies in the September quarter 2017, 200 more than in the previous quarter and 1,800 more than a year ago.
• The unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent in August 2017 was above the 5.4 per cent in the previous month, but below the 6.3 per cent a year ago. The increase in the unemployment rate in August 2017 was due to lower full-time employment and more people looking for work who were previously not in the labour force compared to the previous month.
• The underutilisation rate of 14.9 per cent in the September quarter 2017 was below the 15.5 per cent in the previous quarter and 15.2 per cent a year ago.

 

Other

• Real household consumption growth of 1.1 per cent in 2016-17 was below annual average growth of 3.0 per cent over the past ten years.
• In 2016-17, business investment fell 28 per cent to $37.9 billion, dwelling investment fell 24 per cent to $9.7 billion and public investment rose 7 per cent to $8.5 billion in nominal terms.
• Minerals exploration expenditure rose 18 per cent to $1.0 billion in 2016-17, mainly due to increases in gold exploration. Petroleum exploration expenditure fell 50 per cent to $651 million in 2016‑17.
• Perth’s median established house price fell 3 per cent to $500,000 in the June quarter 2017.
• Real merchandise exports growth of 7 per cent in 2016-17 was above annual average of growth of 6 per cent over the past ten years.
• Real services exports fell 0.2 per cent in 2016-17 compared with annual average growth of 3 per cent over the past ten years.
• Overnight visitors fell 4 per cent to 10.4 million in 2016-17, compared with annual average growth of 4 per cent over the past ten years.
• Minerals and petroleum sales rose 19 per cent to $105.0 billion in 2016-17, mainly due to increased sales of iron ore, LNG and gold.

 

The latest WA Economic Profile will be available on the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation’s website soon.