Budget Paper 1994-95 No.6 Northern Territory Economy
Tabled Paper 2156
Tabled Papers for 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
1994-05-12
Tabled by Barry Coulter
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00044
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/292876
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/398240
Labour Market In 1993/94 estim ated average em ploym ent in the Territory declined 1.4%, follow ing a decline o f 3.1% in the previous year. E stim ated fu ll-tim e em ploym ent in the Territory for 1993/94 decreased 1.9% (to 60 200 persons), while part-tim e em ploym ent is estim ated to have increased 0.8% (to 15 000 persons). N a tio n a lly , fu l l - t im e e m p lo y m e n t increased by an estim ated 1.4% and part- tim e em ploym ent was up 2.8% resulting in an overa ll em ploym en t increase o f 1.8% . W h ile fu ll- t im e e m p lo y m en t d ec reased each y ea r from 1990/91 to 1992/93, part-tim e em ploym ent increased throughout the national recession. Weekly overtim e hours per em ployee and the p ercen tag e o f em ployees w ork ing overtim e are leading indicators o f labour m arket conditions and generally increase prior to sustained em ploym ent growth. For the year to N ovem ber 1993, overtime hours in the Territory grew strongly (up 13.3%), as in the previous year, while data for the national economy show an increase o f 7.0% following no growth a year earlier. The percen tage o f em ployees w orking overtim e also increased sligh tly in the Territory during 1993 as was the case nationally. Employment growth nationally, has been more responsive to higher utilisation o f existing labour, as indicated by overtime hours, than has been the case in the Territory. This can also be seen in job vacancy data where the num ber o f vacancies during 1993 grew by 19% in the Territory com pared to growth o f 26% nationally. It would appear that Territory businesses have met the rising dem and associated with increased econom ic activity through higher labour productivity. W hile overtim e hours involve higher short term unit costs, business m ay p refer to incur these costs over those o f h iring full-tim e em ployees. This m ay reflect a less optim istic outlook or m ore conservative approach on the p a rt o f T errito ry b u sin ess , bu t p robab ly re flec ts in p art m ore flex ib le lab o u r m arket arrangem ents w ithin the Territory. Increasing productivity should translate into em ploym ent grow th in the future. 1 6 Figure 3.2 Employment Growth (annual change in 1993/94) I A ustralia I Northern Territory -3 Total Part-Time Full-Time Source: ABS C at. No. 6202.0, N T T reasury estim ate