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Australia
Employment Index.
The monthly pulse of Australian small and medium businesses. Employment, wages, hours and AI hiring signals are drawn from 1.7 million employees on the Employment Hero platform, with sentiment, AI adoption and investment measures from our quarterly survey of business leaders conducted in partnership with GWI.
SMB health check for employment, wages and hours
The three vital signs of Australian SMB health: employment, wages and hours worked. Tracked monthly.
Employment growth
A key indicator of SMB health is whether there is expansion or contraction. Tracks the average change in headcount across Australian businesses on the Employment Hero platform.
Each point is the average month-on-month change in headcount across Australian businesses on the Employment Hero platform. The 3M figure reflects the % change in the latest month vs. 3 months prior.
Wage growth
Tracking the value of labour in the marketplace.
Median hourly rate
Hourly rate is a median calculation across all employees on the Employment Hero platform, representing a total rate inclusive of base salary, bonuses and commissions.
Hours worked
An essential signal of business activity and labour demand, split by employment type. Full-time hours tend to be steady; part-time and casual hours are where the variance lives.
Both figures are the average per employee, per month.
AI pulse check for hiring, adoption and investment
How AI is showing up across Australian SMBs, from monthly demand signals at the front door (what businesses are hiring for) through to quarterly survey readings on what they are doing with AI inside the business.
Lead indicator
AI in job postings
Share of all jobs posted on the Employment Hero platform that are AI-related (roles that are AI-specific or with AI in the job description). A leading indicator of where SMBs are building dedicated AI capability.
Of all new job postings
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep)
Lead indicator
AI skills in job descriptions
Fastest growing AI skills listed in job descriptions and the top skills for share of mentions in job descriptions. Signals the transition of AI from a specialism to a baseline expectation across the broader workforce.
- RAGQoQup 123%
- Power BIQoQup 80%
- AI AgentsQoQup 56%
- ClaudeQoQup 15%
- Agentic AIQoQup 11%
- CopilotQoQup 10%
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep)
Quarterly read
AI adoption
Share of Australian SMBs actively using AI tools across at least one business function. Drawn from continuous survey with SMB leaders.
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep); QoQ is the percentage point change
Quarterly read
AI investment
Percentage of SMBs increasing their investment into AI infrastructure, tooling and training this quarter. Drawn from continuous survey with SMB leaders.
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep); QoQ is the percentage point change
Business pressure, sentiment and outlook
The mood of the market: how much pressure SMBs are under, how they feel about the next 12 months and where they are putting their money and people.
Business pressure
Share of SMBs reporting high or critical operating pressure across cashflow, hiring, compliance, employee retention and productivity.
Current reading
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep)
Business sentiment
How SMBs feel about the next 12 months overall.
Business sentiment · QoQ (percentage-point change)
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep); QoQ is the percentage point change
Financial outlook
How SMBs expect their financial trajectory to go over the next 12 months.
Financial outlook · QoQ (percentage-point change)
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep); QoQ is the percentage point change
Hiring intent
How SMBs are considering workforce planning over the next 12 months.
Hiring intent · QoQ (percentage-point change)
Based on the latest quarter (Jul-Sep); QoQ is the percentage point change
Survey measures come from a continuous survey of 600 Australian SMB leaders per quarter, conducted with GWI. Quarterly readings show no change figure until a second reading exists.
About this data
Where the figures come from, how often they update and how to read them.
Payroll & ATS data
Employment, wages and hours are derived from anonymised and aggregated employee records covering over 23,000 organisations and 1.7 million employees on the Employment Hero platform and update monthly. Employment growth is a measure of headcount expansion or contraction. Wage growth is calculated from a median total hourly rate and includes base salary, bonuses, commissions and over time. Hours are averages per employee, per month based on timesheet/rostering/payroll records. AI in job postings is the % share of all job postings on the Employment Hero platform that include AI skills or expertise in the job description.
Survey data
Business pressure, sentiment, financial outlook, hiring intent, AI adoption and AI investment come from a continuous survey of 600 Australian SMB leaders per quarter, run in partnership with GWI. Quarterly readings are stated with a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) % change. Advanced AI adoption is the % of SMBs where AI is integrated and core to operations. Total AI adoption is top-3-box (custom, company-wide enterprise or departmental). Business pressure is the share of SMBs self-reporting critical or high (top-2-box) operating pressure (across a multitude of elements).
How to read the figures
Wage and hours changes compare the latest month with the month before (MoM), three months earlier (3M) and a year earlier (YoY). Employment growth shows MoM and 3M. The 3M figure compares the latest month with the same point three months earlier; it does not add up the monthly changes. All payroll figures are unadjusted percentage changes, so seasonal patterns such as the Christmas-to-January period will appear in MoM figures. For a like-for-like comparison, use YoY. Survey figures show a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) change, which is the difference between this quarter’s share and last quarter’s, shown in percentage points (pp). For example, a rise from 40% to 44% is +4pp, not a 10% increase.
