Employment and skills in South East Queensland

Date published:

These factsheets are based on the initial findings from the employment and skills analysis of the ongoing South East Queensland (SEQ) research project.

  • 1.93 million employed persons live in SEQ, as of August 2021. Brisbane was the main LGA of work, with 48% of SEQ's employment, followed by the Gold Coast (18%) in 2016.
  • SEQ added 186,800 employed residents between 2016 and 2021, representing an average annual growth rate of 2.1%. The Gold Coast SA4 had the largest increase in employed residents of all SA4s in SEQ employed persons between 2016 and 2021 (44,700).
  • Professionals were the biggest occupational contributor to SEQ's employment growth from 2016 to 2021, with an increase of 82,200 persons, which is 44% of the total increase.
  • 30% of the working population of the 12 LGAs of SEQ had a Bachelor's degree or higher qualification in 2016, the same as the national level (30%).
Employment and skills in South East Queensland placemats (1.35 MB)