Payroll jobs have recovered to the same level as they were a year ago, according to new data.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that in the last fortnight of January the number of payroll jobs increased by 1.3 per cent nationally — with almost every industry benefiting.

It means the number of payroll jobs are back to where they were at the beginning of February last year, when Australian officials were still scrambling to deal with the then relatively new and unknown threat posed by COVID-19.

For context, on February 1 last year the Australian Government first announced that foreigners arriving from mainland China would not be permitted to enter Australia.

On February 2, 2020, there were only 12 confirmed cases of COVID in Australia and roughly 14,500 confirmed COVID cases (and 305 deaths) had been reported globally.

Twelve months later, after several severe lockdowns, more than 900 COVID-related deaths, and following the first recession in almost 30 years, Australia's labour market is showing signs of rapid recovery.

This week's ABS payroll data provides more evidence.

ABS officials said care needed to be taken when focusing on just two weeks' worth of data movements, but Tuesday's data was promising — especially when considering them alongside data from the last 12 months.

'Virus free' states lead jobs recovery

Bjorn Jarvis, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said the number of payroll jobs in Australia was now "around the same level as last year".

"Annual growth in payroll jobs varied across the states and territories," he added.

"It was strongest in the Northern Territory (up 3.5 per cent), Western Australia (up 2.5 per cent) and South Australia (up 2.4 per cent), and weakest in Tasmania and Victoria (both down 1.7 per cent)."

The ABS classifies payroll jobs as employee jobs for which a payment is reported to the Australian Taxation Office through the Single Touch Payroll system.

CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said large seasonal swings in payroll jobs in late December and early January had ended with a strong lift in payroll jobs at the end of January.

"Of course, the labour market recovery remains uneven with the relatively 'virus free' states and territories posting the strongest pace of payroll job growth over the year," Mr Felsman said.

However, the ABS data also showed that, between March 14, 2020 and January 30, 2021, payroll wages have fallen by 3.4 per cent across Australia.

In fact, payroll wages have gone backwards in every state and territory over the last 11 months, except for the Northern Territory.

They have deteriorated most in New South Wales (-4.6 per cent) and Western Australia (-4.3 per cent), followed by Victoria (-2.7 per cent), Queensland (-2.6 per cent), Tasmania (-2.2 per cent), South Australia (-1.2 per cent) and the ACT (-1 per cent).

Payroll wages have increased by 1.6 per cent in the Northern Territory.