Economic indicators show the economic performance of The Hills Shire within a national and regional context. The performance of the national economy has a significant influence on the economy.
Unemployment of the residents can be an indicator of inefficiencies in the economy and how national trends in the labour market are affecting your area. A level of unemployment of about 2-3% is generally considered full employment, however higher levels indicate that there are significant numbers of residents seeking work who cannot find it. Comparisons to the benchmark averages show whether unemployment in the area is a particular issue or if it is simply following a wider trend.
Please note: national and state unemployment data is based on a monthly dataset, while the DEEWR unemployment dataset is based on a quarterly average. Care should be taken in comparing the two measures directly.
Please note that the unemployment data are sourced from Small Area Labour Markets, a quarterly publication by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. State and National figures are sourced from the ABS Labour Force Survey (Catalogue number 6202.0). The DEWR data uses the labour force survey as a base, and models it to level using Centrelink data. Because of these different sources, State and National figures are updated monthly, while unemployment is updated quarterly. The quarterly data actually relates to the entire quarter, not just March, June, September and December as displayed.
All labour force data are subject to sampling error, as they are derived from a sample survey of approximately 29,000 dwellings nationwide.
All labour force data relates to the civilian population aged 15 years and over.
The definition of unemployment used is the standard ABS and international definition - Unemployed persons are defined as all persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and either had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week, or were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.
Employed persons are those aged 15 years or over who, during the survey reference week, worked for one hour or more for pay, profit or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm; or worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm; or who had a job but were not at work for a number of specified reasons; or were employers or self-employed persons who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour force survey catalogue number 6202.0, and DEEWR, Small Area Labour Markets - Australia
Please refer to the data notes for more information.