Kimberley's labour force (total number of people employed and unemployed) has exhibited long-term growth increasing from 13,744 in 1995/96 to 16,988 in 2004/05.

The number of employed persons in the Kimberley followed a similar pattern as the labour force. Employment in 1995/96 was 12,821, growing to 15,920 in 2004/05. Unemployment remained steady at 1,068 in 2004/05.

Kimberley's unemployment rate has consistently been higher than the State's unemployment rate since 1996/97. The unemployed rate peaked at 11.6 per cent in 2000/01 and has gradually declined, reaching 6.3 per cent in 2004/05.

According to the 2001 Census, the key service sector industries in terms of employment were: government and administration (18.2 per cent); retail trade (10.3 per cent); health and community services (9.1 per cent); and education (8.2 per cent). The mining, manufacturing and agricultural sectors totalled 3.6 per cent, 3.0 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively.

The largest shift in industry employment from 1996 to 2001 was in health and community services, which decreased from 27.2 per cent to 9.1 per cent of the workforce. This was offset by an increase in government administration and defence, which increased its relative share of employment from 5.0 per cent to 18.2 per cent. These large shifts were due to a change in ABS methodology rather than a significant change in the composition of the Region's workforce. (In 1996 many people employed in Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) were included in health and community services, whereas in 2001 they were included in government administration and defence.)

Estimates provided by Tourism Western Australia show that across 2004 and 2005, an average of 285,800 domestic and international visitors arrived in the Region. These visitors stayed a total of 2.3 million nights, which represented 5.2 per cent of all visitor nights for Western Australia for those years. Despite the conservative estimates of total visitor numbers to the Kimberley, passenger movements at the Broome airport have suggested a strong growth in regional activity. Passenger movements at the airport increased from 169,633 in 2001/02 to 284,489 in 2004/05. 236,175 were recorded in 2000/01 before the discontinuation of Ansett Australia services to the Region.

TAXABLE INCOME
The estimated average taxable income in the Kimberley had increased from $29,587 in 1994/95 to $39,342 in 2002/03. By comparison, the average for regional Western Australia in 2002/03 was $39,254 and $40,180 for the State. The Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley had the highest average taxable income in the Region ($41,841), followed by Shire of Broome ($38,680), Shire of Derby West-Kimberley ($38,273) and Shire of Halls Creek ($36,768).