Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing

EMPLOYED

292,200

PART-TIME SHARE

28%

WORKFORCE SHARE

2.0%

FEMALE SHARE

32%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$1,358

MEDIAN AGE

51

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing is a small employing industry. Around 2% of workers have their main job in this industry.

Businesses in this industry are mainly involved in activities like:

  • growing crops
  • raising animals
  • growing and harvesting timber
  • harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats

A large share of the workforce is employed in regional Australia.

Median earnings are $1,358 per week, lower than all industries median earnings of $1,741.

On this page

    Employment

    Employment in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry fell over the 20 years to February 2026.
    The number of workers fell by 7,900 (or -2.6%) over the last year.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: Over the COVID-19 pandemic period (highlighted section in the chart above), some industries have censored values, resulting in a broken series for impacted industries. This is due to large quarterly fluctuations in employment resulting in trend data being unreliable for these quarters. Where data are available over the COVID-19 pandemic period, JSA recommends caution when using these trend estimates.
    Quarterly employment, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Employment
    348100
    347100
    346400
    345900
    345700
    345600
    345700
    345900
    346100
    346300
    346500
    346400
    346200
    345600
    344800
    343600
    342000
    340100
    337700
    335100
    332200
    329200
    326300
    323500
    321000
    318600
    316400
    314600
    313100
    312100
    311400
    311200
    311100
    311300
    311500
    311800
    312200
    312700
    313400
    314100
    315100
    316100
    317300
    318600
    320100
    321800
    323500
    325100
    326600
    328000
    329100
    330000
    330700
    331100
    331300
    331300
    331000
    330400
    329400
    328000
    326200
    324200
    321900
    319700
    317400
    315200
    313300
    311700
    310200
    309000
    308000
    307000
    306000
    304800
    303400
    301800
    300000
    298100
    296200
    294200
    292200

    Sectors

    Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming is the largest sector in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry, employing 121,100 workers.

    Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
    Note: the sum of sectoral employment may not equal the industry total as data are trended separately, and not further defined (nfd) classifications have been excluded.
    Employment by industry sectors Employment
    Sheep, Beef Cattle and Grain Farming 121100
    Fruit and Tree Nut Growing 24600
    Agriculture and Fishing Support Services 23400
    Mushroom and Vegetable Growing 15700
    Nursery and Floriculture Production 13400
    Dairy Cattle Farming 10600
    Other Livestock Farming 9500
    Other Crop Growing 7100
    Poultry Farming 6600
    Forestry and Logging 6000
    Aquaculture 5300
    Forestry Support Services 4000
    Fishing 3700
    Hunting and Trapping 800
    Deer Farming 100

    Occupations

    Livestock Farmers is the largest employing occupation in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry.

    The 10 largest employing occupations are shown below.

    Some occupations are common across a number of industries.

    Largest employing occupations

    Source: Ranked using ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, customised report.
    ANZSCO CodeOccupation title
    1213Livestock Farmers
    1212Crop Farmers
    1214Mixed Crop and Livestock Farmers
    8412Crop Farm Workers
    8415Livestock Farm Workers
    7211Agricultural, Forestry and Horticultural Plant Operators
    5512Bookkeepers
    8419Other Farm, Forestry and Garden Workers
    8414Garden and Nursery Labourers
    7331Truck Drivers

    Industry data

    This file contains data for all 19 industries to make comparing industry data easy. Information available includes:

    • industry overview
    • industry employment (20-year time series)
    • industry sector employment
    • top employing occupations by industry.

     

    Industry data - February 2026.xlsx

    industry_data_-_february_2026.xlsx123358

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