Employment fell by a further -46,300 in October, to be -333,700 lower over the past quarter.
That's largely been driven by a drop of -146,000 in Victoria and -176,000 in New South Wales, as these states endured lockdown conditions, while Canberra was also starting to feel the pain of restrictions in October.
The reference period was earlier this October due to the Census year, and New South Wales was only just starting to see the Sydney rehiring numbers flow through to this report as things began to reopen.
South-east Queensland has boomed over the past year, with employment across the state leaping by +90,000 to a record high of 2.65 million.
While other property markets are coming back towards equilibrium, Brisbane isn't just yet, and this sweeping demographic shift up to Queensland is a part of this cyclical phenomenon.
The reported unemployment rate has been artificially low over the past year as participation has fallen, but jumped to a 6-month high of 5.22 per cent last month.
Were it not for the plunging rates of participation through the pandemic period the unemployment rates would actually be about 9 to 10 per cent in the two most populous states.
Hours worked fell marginally in October, but the employment figures will start to bounce in earnest next month.
The in-depth analysis you can check out with data king James Foster here.
