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The Rostering Report
An analysis of Deputy's rostering data to better understand the state of Australian labour industries
The pace of change instigated by COVID-19 highlighted the need for real-time data to better understand what has happened in the Australian labour market.
PwC Australia has collaborated with Deputy to create the Rostering Report, a fortnightly analysis into 27 industries sub-sectors across the nation that will detail current and forecasted employment growth.
Why analyse rostering data?
A significant proportion of the Australian workforce is employed with irregular hours. Businesses operating with this flexibility will rapidly expand and contract hours of such employees as demand rises and falls, and can thus be a leading indicator of how the economy responds to various trends.
Deputy collects information on hours worked as part of its cloud-based rostering software.
Analysis of Deputy’s rostering data is useful in understanding, in close to real-time, how industries with a significant irregular workforforce:
- have been performing
- can be expected to perform in the next roster period (i.e. two weeks out).
Such information is particularly useful in better understanding how the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 lockdown.
In this analysis we focus on 27 industry sub-sectors in which Deputy manages rostering. These sub-sectors have been grouped into four headline sectors (Healthcare; Hospitality; Retail; Other Services).
We compare current two-week activity levels (hours worked) to: February (pre-COVID-19 levels); and the previous fortnight.
In future issues we intend to provide projections of changes in hours worked over the coming fortnight based on forthcoming roster allocations.
Fortnightly overview of the Australian labour market
Growing employment as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions ease
The hours worked by most employees are still well down on pre-COVID-19 levels, but the second half of June (17 June to 30 June) showed near universal signs of growth for employees with irregular hours.
The Hospitality industry continues to be the hardest hit industry, down 30% compared to pre-covid levels. In comparison, the Healthcare industry is 1% up on the February benchmark level.
Over the period 17 June to 30 June, in the 162 sectors analysed (27 industry sub-sectors across six jurisdictions), only two sub-sectors (Accomodation and Pharmacies/Chemists in the ACT) declined in terms of hours worked.
South Australians employed on irregular hours have been relatively less affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, possibly reflecting the very low COVID-19 transmission in South Australia.
Rostered hours across Australia fall for the first time in ten weeks
Hours worked by rostered staff in the first two weeks of July (3 July to 17 July) fell in all jurisdictions when compared to the previous fortnight.
- Victoria saw the greatest declines as the first week of new lockdown requirements took effect
- The fall in hours worked across all states and territories surveyed underscores the fragility of the economy and its vulnerability to shocks such as the Victorian lockdown.
