Single Touch Payroll

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:16): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the chamber on the latest Single Touch Payroll figures as they relate to South Australia?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I didn't really hear a great deal of that. The Treasurer has the call.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:16): I am very excited to get this particular question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I am sure all members will be very excited when they hear the response again. Given the house was up for two weeks, we missed the instant update of the release last week of the Single Touch Payroll figures for the most recent fortnight. I am delighted to be able to indicate that, again, when measured against the low point of the pandemic, the middle of April 2020, South Australia has seen 15.4 per cent growth in total jobs in South Australia.

The comparative figure for Australia as a nation is 8.6 per cent, so almost double the national job growth rate. Again, Western Australia led the pack, as it has for a number of months now, at 17.1 per cent. Importantly, Northern Territory had an impressive performance in the most recent figures at 16.7 per cent. South Australia's job growth rate, again, is almost double the national job growth rate.

The more important, in my view, measure, which has now been resumed again after a bit of an interruption by the ABS, is the change in employee wages, because that measures the total amount of income going into a household as opposed to whether or not they are in a job or not—the total employee wages.

Again, South Australia, since the low point of the pandemic, has seen a 16.2 per cent increase in employee wages compared to the national figure of 12.0 per cent. It is still a good figure nationally in terms of growth in employee wages, but South Australia's figure there, again, is the second highest. Western Australia leads the pack, as it has for many months, but South Australia's figure, at 16.2 per cent, is the second highest.

In looking at the breakdown in which particular industry sectors, we have seen the greatest jobs growth in education and training, health care and social assistance, and in financial and insurance services. Unsurprisingly, the industry sectors where we have seen the greatest challenges in terms of declines have been in, for example, accommodation and food services. Again, in summary, it is a further indication of an impressive performance for the state's economy as we emerge from the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.