Employees

General reports submitted to the Registrar since 2007–08 contain information on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees of each corporation. [9]

Figure 19: Total number of employees at the top 500 corporations, 2007–08 to 2014–15

The top 500 corporations reported that in 2014–15 they had 11,095 FTE employees. This represents a decrease of 626 employees (5.3 per cent) when compared to the previous financial year (figure 19).

Figure 20: Total number of employees and percentage share of the top 500 corporations by state/territory, 2014–15

Most people were employed by top 500 corporations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, which constituted 61.9 per cent of all FTE employees (figure 20). In comparison to the previous year (63.8 per cent) this represents a small decline in their combined percentage share.

With a total of 4449 employees in 2014–15, the Northern Territory held a clear lead over all other jurisdictions in terms of the total number of FTE employees.

Figure 21: Comparison of percentage shares of total income and total employees for the top 500 corporations by state/territory, 2014–15

The two jurisdictions which generated the largest share of total income (Northern Territory and Western Australia) employ a smaller percentage of total FTE employees comparative to their share of total income (figure 21). This is consistent with the data from the previous financial year.

Figure 22: Change in the number of employees at the top 500 corporations by state/territory, 2013–14 to 2014–15

Figure 22 shows that, in the past year, four jurisdictions increased their FTE employee numbers—the Australian Capital Territory (four), New South Wales (34), Tasmania (39) and Victoria (53).

The key takeaway from the jurisdictional employment data is the loss of employment in the mining jurisdictions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Western Australia saw the largest decrease in FTE employee numbers, dropping by 339—from 2759 employees to 2240 (figure 22). Its percentage share fell slightly from 23.5 per cent to 21.8 per cent (figure 20).

It was a similar story in the Northern Territory, with the number of FTE employees falling by 274—from 4723 to 4449—in the past year (figure 22). The Northern Territory also saw a small decline in its percentage share from 40.3 per cent to 40.1 per cent (figure 20).

In the previous top 500 report (based on corporation reports for 2013–14) the biggest change in FTE employee numbers was an increase by 40. Changes in 2014–15 were significantly larger.