Tasmania's jobs recovery looking wobbly, wages drop

That is going by Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for the period until February 27, based on single touch payroll data.

The ABS estimated there was no change in the number of Tasmanian payroll jobs between February 13 and February 27, while payroll wages paid dropped by a nation's worst 0.8 per cent.

Payroll jobs nationally were estimated to have increased by 0.4 per cent during the fortnight, and every other state and territory had growth.

The Tasmanian news was not all bad.

Payroll jobs were estimated to have increased by 0.5 per cent in the second week of the fortnight in question and by 1.3 per cent since January 30.

The ABS estimated total payroll jobs were down by 1 per cent in Tasmania between March 14, 2020, early in the economic crisis, and February 27.

That compared with a 0.2 per cent decrease nationally.

Victoria (down by 1.3 per cent), New South Wales (down by 0.4 per cent), Queensland (down by 0.2 per cent) and the ACT (down by 0.1 per cent) were the other states or territories yet to top their pre-pandemic employment levels, based on the payrolls data (which do not capture all employed people).

Payroll wages in Tasmania were down by 0.5 per cent between March last year and February 27, with only Western Australia faring worse.

National payroll wages were up by 1 per cent.

Concerns have been raised the looming end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy will send national employment growth into reverse and cause more losses in Tasmania.

The Reserve Bank does not believe it will lead to an ongoing increase in the unemployment rate.

"The number of people working zero hours in Australia had declined significantly in recent months to be close to pre-pandemic levels," the central bank said in the minutes from its March meeting.

"In addition, some JobKeeper recipients, including the self-employed, were more likely to suffer a decline in income than lose employment at the end of the program.

"Information from liaison contacts had suggested that many firms in receipt of JobKeeper subsidies had already reduced the size of their workforces and were not planning on another large round of lay-offs.

"Against this, it was likely that some jobs that had been maintained because of the wage subsidy provided by JobKeeper would cease when the subsidy ended."