ACCORDING to the ABS industrial disputes data released in early December, there were 110,000 lost working days during the September quarter this year due to industrial disputes, some 8300 days higher than the June quarter’s eight-year record of 101,700 lost days.

The construction industry had the highest number of working days lost per thousand employees (62.7) in the September quarter this year. The period included the Grocon dispute in Victoria.

Of the 110,000 days lost, 40,400 were in the public sector, while 44,700 were recorded in the construction industry. Together, these accounted for 77% of the total number of working days lost in the quarter.

The disputes figure for the three months takes the days lost for the year until September 30 this year to 301,800.

While still historically low, it is significantly higher than last year’s figures up to September 30, in which the total was 214,400.

The ABS says there were a total of 221 disputes during the year up to the last day of September, which is up 24 up on the same time last year.