Western Australians are increasingly working in fields such as sports and performing arts making it the state’s fastest growing industry by employment, according to latest insights from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.
The Health Care and Social Assistance industry, covering areas such as aged and child care and the health sector, continued to be the largest employing industry for WA recorded in the Census, growing 19 per cent since 2011. It was also the largest industry nationwide by workforce size.
Census Program Manager Bindi Kindermann said the latest Census data contained information on a state-wide scale as well as for local communities.
“From how people get to work, to what they are studying, what their jobs are and where people are moving to, this Census information tells us so much about the lives of Western Australians,” Ms Kindermann said.
“One of the stand-out trends was the increase of 25 per cent in the number of people who recorded that they were employed in the Arts and Recreational Services industry – including Fitness Centres, Sport and Performing Arts.
“The data also shows that of all the Australian capital cities, Perth had the second highest proportion of people who travelled to work by car at 79 per cent, second to Adelaide with 80 per cent.
“Perth also had the lowest proportion of people who rode or walked to work, at less than 4 per cent.”
The top three industries by workforce size in the Census remained the same as in 2011, with Construction second, behind the Health Care and Social Assistance Industry and Retail Trade third.
Education and Training grew by 15 per cent to move up from fifth to fourth largest employing industry in the state while Accommodation and Food Services industry grew by 15 per cent to enter the top five, mirroring a nationwide trend. The Mining industry continued to show growth between 2011 and 2016 showing a 7 per cent increase.
Among the 2.5 million from Western Australia who took part in the Census were 41,000 who lived overseas one year prior to Census, and 176,000 who lived overseas in 2011.
Census data is available free online. Use one of our easy tools such as QuickStats or Community Profiles to access the latest data for your area or topic of interest.
For more information on Western Australia in the 2016 Census, follow the link to the Western Australia QuickStats page.
Information on Perth can be found via the following link to the Perth QuickStats page.