" ... as was the case during last year's lockdown, it has been the accommodation and food services and the arts and recreation services sectors which have experienced proportionately the largest job losses since the lockdowns began in Sydney ...," economist Saul Eslake said.

He said that was along with wholesale trade and the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.

Mr Eslake said last year's experience suggested the drop in agriculture, forestry and fishing was the result of normal patterns of employment in Tasmanian agriculture.

He was analysing new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures based on payroll jobs which showed:

"This gels with anecdotal evidence that Tasmania's tourist industry - which accounts for a larger share of total employment in Tasmania than it does in any other state or territory - has taken a hit from the lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, and from the Tasmanian government's decision to prohibit travel from those jurisdictions to Tasmania," Mr Eslake said.

"As during last year's lockdown, job losses have been disproportionately borne by younger workers, although on this occasion there hasn't been a significant difference in job losses between men and women."

He did not argue against the current state border restrictions.

"Personally, I'm as keen as anybody else to see travel allowed between Tasmania and all parts of the mainland, but I'd rather be confident that when I am allowed to do that I'm not risking not being allowed back into Tasmania again, or being put under a couple of weeks' house arrest if I am," he said.

"And I suspect that most tourism businesses would want to be confident that, once the drawbridge has been lowered, there's no risk of it being pulled up again."

The ABS figures showed Tasmanian payroll jobs declined by 0.3 per cent in the fortnight after August 28 and by 0.6 per cent in the four weeks after August 14.

They had increased by 2.6 per cent in the year since September 12, 2020, compared with a national decline of 0.6 per cent, a 9.1 per cent fall in the ACT and a 6.8 per cent drop in New South Wales.

Shadow Finance Minister Dean Winter said about 1500 Tasmanian jobs were lost between August and September "after the Liberal government failed to act quickly to offer meaningful support to tourism and tourism-impacted businesses".

"The government's lack of urgency to provide support quickly was appalling and their initial support simply wasn't enough to help workers in need.

"It was only after lobbying from Labor that the Premier came to the table to roll out a much better package of support.

"Due to the government's lack of urgency, our unemployment rate is now the highest in the nation and about 8 per cent of all jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector have been lost since July.

"Labor supports strong border controls, but while they are in place the government needs to provide a level of support to the sector that means they are still here when it's safe to reopen."

Government comment was being sought.