The main occupation categories for people aged 15 years and over in Gladstone are:

• 25.0% - Technicians and Trade Operators
• 21.5% - Professionals 
• 11.8% - Community and personal service workers 
• 9.6% - Clerical and Administrative Workers
• 9.1% - Machinery Operators
• 8.7% - Managers

The community of Gladstone has seen a significant change in its population between 2011 and 2021, with a decrease of around 5,500 community members.

There have been changes across all occupational categories, some categories have seen an increase a percentage of the workforce while seeing a decrease in the number of people in the category.

Between 2011 and 2016 there was a decrease in the number of people working across all occupational categories with the exception of labourers which increased from 343 people or 2.1 per cent of the workforce to 718 people or 7.6 per cent of the workforce in 2016. The number of people in this category increased again slightly to 759 people or 7.2 of the workforce in 2021.

The percentage of the workforce that are professionals has increased from 13.9 per cent (2,224 people) of the workforce in 2011 to 21.2 per cent (2,690 people) of the workforce in 2016 and 21.5 per cent in 2021 or 2,281 people.

There is also a shift in the proportion of the workforce in the community and personal service category, making up 11.8 per cent (1,249 people) of the workforce in 2021, 10.1 per cent (960 people) of the workforce in 2016 and 7 per cent or 1,128 people in 2011.

There has been a reduction in the percentage of the workforce that work as a machinery operator. Although decreasing by 3.6 per cent between 2021 and 2011 there was an in fact an increase in the number more people working in this category between 2011 and 2021, increasing by 200 people.

The percentage of population working in sales decreased by 4.2 per cent between 2011 and 2016 and 0.6 per cent in 2021, during this year there were 536 sales workers.

Between 2011 and 2012 there was an 8.7 per cent decrease in the percentage of the population that work full time, with the largest decrease of 7.2 per cent taking place between 2011 and 2016.

There has been a steady increase in the percentage of the population working part time, in 2011 it was 14.7 per cent of the workforce (3,626 people), in 2016 it was 16.3 per cent (4,222 people) and in 2021 it was 17.6 per cent or 4,780 people.

The percentage of the Gladstone population that has been unemployed between 2021 and 2011 has fluctuated. With 0.9 per cent of the population (231 people) unemployed in 2011, 7.6 per cent (1,974 people) in 2016 and 5.2 per cent or 1,421 people in 2021. Overall, there was an increase in the percentage of population unemployed between 2021 and 2011 of 4.03 per cent.

There has been a steady increase in the percentage of people not in the Labour force, increasing from 24 per cent in 2011 to, 26.8 per cent in 2016 and 29.5 per cent in 2021.

The top five industries of employment have remained relatively static across 2021, 2016 and 2011.

In 2021 the top five industries of employment were, Manufacturing, Health care and social assistance, Retail Trade, Construction and finally Transport, Postal and Warehousing.

In 2016 the top five industries of employment were, Manufacturing and in joint second were construction and Retail Trade followed by Transport, Postal and Warehousing, then Health care and social assistance and finally Education and Training.

In 2011 the top five industries of employment were, Manufacturing, Construction, Retail Trade, Transport, Postal and Warehousing and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.

The industries with the largest increases are Health Care and Social Assistance, increasing by 4.2 per cent (665 people) since 2011 and Education and Training which has increased by 1.6 per cent or 244 people since 2011.

In 2011, 8 per cent of people worked in Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, reducing to 3.3 per cent in 2021. A reduction of 754 people.

The second highest decrease was seen in the construction industrial category, with a 3.1 per cent reduction in the population working in this category since 2011. It is worth noting that the majority of this reduction 2.6 per cent took place between 2011 and 2016.

Hours worked can only be shown for 2016 and 2021 due this data not being captured in the 2011 Census.

There has been a 3 percent decrease in the number of employees working 35 hours or more between 2011 and 2016, being 63% and 66% respectively.

Data from the 2021 Census shows 93 per cent of workers travel to their place of work by car, either as driver or passenger.