Economic Data
Cairns Regional Summary
More than one in five new jobs in the Cairns region will be in industries supporting tourism. While Health Care and Social Assistance is projected to be the largest employing industry by June 2025, the Accommodation and Food Services industry is projected to experience the fastest growth.
Cairns Labour Market Profile
The Cairns Labour Market Profile provides a snapshot of the region as of 1 February 2022, including key indicators such as workforce composition, employment and unemployment, business figures, and education and training pathways.
Cairns Labour Market Dashboard
This Labour Market Data Dashboard provides key indicators for the labour market by Employment Region and is updated monthly.
Cairns Region Industry Profile
In August 2022, there were around 140,400 people employed in the Cairns Employment Region. The 5 largest employing industries in the region were Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Education and Training, Construction, and Accommodation and Food Services. Together these 5 industries accounted for 55% of employment in the region.
Cairns Recruitment Trends & Employers' Needs
This snapshot provides information about trends in employers' recruitment experiences and future staffing outlook. Information on this page is sourced from the online job advertisements measured by the Internet Vacancy Index (IVI).
Anticipating Future Skills
More than one in five new jobs in the Cairns region will be in industries supporting tourism. While Health Care and Social Assistance is projected to be the largest employing industry by June 2025, the Accommodation and Food Services industry is projected to experience the fastest growth.
Regional Statistics
Cairns Regional Council's economic profile presents economic information that enables you to describe the area's role within the broader economy, explore options for economic development and promote the area's strengths. The information presented here is derived from official sources of information (Australian Bureau of Statistics) as well as Australia's leading economic modellers (NIEIR).
Cairns Economic Development Plan
Cairns Regional Council has a dedicated Economic Development team that works closely with other areas of Council as well as business, industry groups, community, and State and Federal Governments. The Economic Development team work with these key stakeholders to foster a prosperous environment for businesses and industry, enabling economic growth and wealth creation for the residents of Cairns.
Skills Priority List
The Skills Priority List is a critical piece of the National Skills Commission’s analysis, providing a single source of advice on occupations that are in shortage and their expected future demand. Launched today, the Skills Priority List, includes nearly 800 occupations and aims to help governments, industry and education providers understand Australia’s skills needs and shortages now and into the future.
Queensland Workforce Strategy 2022-2032
The Queensland Workforce Strategy 2022-2032 is the first whole-of-government workforce strategy produced by the Queensland Government. It delivers on the outcomes of the Queensland Workforce Summit, held in March 2022. The Strategy delivers innovative and practical solutions to ensure Queensland has a ready workforce to support growth, strengthen our communities and keep Queensland at the forefront of new economic opportunities.
Queensland Workforce Regional Profiles
The Queensland Regional Profiles are informative statistical reports on a range of Queensland community types (e.g. local government areas). These reports are generated automatically using the latest demographic, social and economic data available. Community regions can be selected individually, or easily combined to create customised regions or catchments for profiling. The smallest geographical region available for selection is Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) (broadly equivalent to suburb size in urban areas).