The loss of event organisers has been particularly high in Victoria – more than twice the national average.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics completes labour force surveys year-round.
The quarterly data reports – released slightly out of kilter with financial quarters, in August, November, February and May – provide insight into individual professions by ANZSCO – Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations – code.
There is a specific code for conference and event organisers, which, according to the ABS, covers conference organisers, exhibition organisers, wedding planners and other event planners.
Looking at the last four releases of quarterly data – from August 2024 to May 2025, there was a rounded average of 29,100 people working as event organisers.
In that same time over 2018 and 2019, a rounded average of 34,400 people were working as event organisers.
This indicates a more than 15 per cent drop in working event organisers in these two periods.
Taking a look at the intervening years, the pandemic low point was in 2021 and 2022, where four quarters of data showed that a rounded average of just 23,500 people worked as event organisers over that August to May data period. Event organiser figures actually rose slightly above pre-pandemic levels Australia-wide for data collected over the corresponding 2023-2024 period when an average of 35,600 people worked as event planners.
Breaking down the data by state, Victoria fares the worst of Australia’s three most populous states, with an average of 7,100 event organisers in the most recent four quarters of data, versus 11,500 event organisers in the corresponding 2018-2019 period – a more than 38 per cent decrease in planners.
And unlike the national trend, Victoria did not see a greater than pre-COVID number of organisers in 2023-2024, with an average of 8,600 working in the industry during that time.
In New South Wales, event organisers have more or less returned to their peak, with 13,300 in the last four quarters, compared to 13,400 pre-COVID. And, shockingly, the number of organisers in NSW during the COVID dip of 2021 and 2022 is the same as the number of organisers in Victoria now.
Meanwhile, in Queensland, event organisers have surged since pre-pandemic, with an average of 2,600 organisers in the 2018-2019 quarters versus 4,400 now – a more than 69 per cent increase. And event organisers in Queensland are down now compared to the 2023-2024 period where there were 5,900 organisers, which is a more than 226 per cent increase on pre-COVID.
These figures were brought to micenet’s attention by Victorian event organiser, Simon Thewlis, who was one of the driving forces behind the Save Victorian Events initiative during the pandemic.
The ABS labour force statistics are based on surveys which aim to canvas the working lives of up to 50,000 Australians each month.
