About the Queensland Economy

Over the past two decades, Queensland’s economic growth has generally exceeded the national average, reflecting a range of factors and trends including strong population growth, the resources investment boom and associated upturn in LNG exports as well as ongoing strength in mining, and solid growth across a range of key sectors of the economy, including key service-based industries.

A strong position

The 2023-24 State Mid-Year Budget Update (MYBU) forecast Queensland’s economic growth to strengthen to 3% in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, after rising 2.3% in 2022-23. Despite persistent pressures from high inflation and increased interest rates, Queensland’s labour market has remained strong, with year-average employment growth since COVID-19 outperforming the rest of the nation on average.

Queensland’s growing population, currently totalling 5.5 million, has been driven by nation leading interstate migration since COVID-19 and a substantial rebound in net overseas migration after international borders were reopened. After growing by 2.4% in 2022‑23, Queensland’s population is forecast to grow a further 2% in 2023-24 and average around 1½% over the remainder of the forward estimates period.

Reflecting the strength of Queensland’s labour market, the state’s unemployment rate averaged 3.7% in 2022-23. This was Queensland’s lowest year-average unemployment rate since 2007-08 and the second lowest on record.

A diversified economy

Mining was Queensland’s largest industry in 2022-23, worth A$86.5 billion in nominal gross value added (GVA) terms. Reflecting strong growth in commodity prices, the mining industry’s nominal GVA has increased by A$59.7 billion over the past two years, increasing its share of Queensland’s total output from 7.8% to 18.3%.

After mining, the largest contribution to the Queensland economy in 2022-23 was from the health care and social assistance industry, accounting for $39.8 billion (or 8.4%). The health care sector is also the state’s largest employer, employing 457,000 workers in 2022-23.

The health sector has been one of the major contributors to the Queensland economy over the last decade, growing by approximately 79.0% in real terms. As the state’s population ages and the demand for health services increases, job opportunities in this sector are expected to increase.

The latest Tourism Research Australia data estimates the tourism industry to have contributed $9.4 billion to the Queensland economy in 2021-22. Meanwhile, the education and training sector contributed $22.5 billion (4.8% of total output) to Queensland’s economy in 2022-23. Our tourism market is the largest in Australia, accounting for 28.2% of national tourism output and directly employing 134,400 persons in 2021-22.

The ongoing diversification of Queensland’s economy is also reflected in the strength of the state’s financial and professional services sectors. Combined, these sectors accounted for $54.3 billion of Queensland economic output in 2022-23 and employed 298,100 people.

The third largest employer in the state is the construction sector, with 267,600 people employed in the industry in 2022-23. The construction industry contributed $34.2 billion (7.2% of total output) to Queensland’s economy in 2022-23, making it the State’s fourth largest industry.

Economic snapshot

The following data provides a snapshot of the key economic indicators used to assess the economic performance of Queensland and are regularly updated to reflect the most recent data.