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SA jobs market bucks national trend
Submitted 11/06/2009
AAP
The jobless rate in SA fell from 5.5 per cent in April to 5.4 per cent last month, compared to the national rate of 5.7 per cent.
Mr O'Brien said the figures also showed a record 795,600 South Australians now had jobs.
"SA's annual average employment growth in trend terms has now exceeded the national rate for the last four months," Mr O'Brien said.
"SA was the only state to record an increase in the number of people looking for work and the only mainland state to record a drop in its headline unemployment rate.
"This demonstrates continuing confidence in our labour market."
Despite the overall fall in jobless numbers, the level of youth unemployment in South Australia jumped 7.7 percentage points in May to 24.9 per cent.
Queensland saw the biggest unemployment jump, rising to 5.3 per cent in May from 4.9 per cent in April. NSW had the highest rate in the country, rising to 6.4 per cent from 6.1 per cent, while in Western Australia it increased to 4.9 per cent from 4.6 per cent.
The jobless rate in Victoria was 5.9 per cent in May compared to 5.7 per cent the previous month, while it was up to 3.3 per cent in the ACT versus 3.1 per cent previously.
However, the Tasmanian unemployment rate fell to 5.7 per cent from 6.1 per cent. The rate was unchanged in the Northern Territory at 3.9 per cent.
"The global recession is hitting the Australian economy and Australian jobs," Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today. "We're not immune.
"As a result of the global recession these are tough times for working people right around the globe.
"Here in Australia, the government has acted decisively to support Australian jobs."
The federal government has initiated two fiscal stimulus packages, which included cash hand outs, since October last year.
"For Australians hit by the global recession and unemployment, we will be standing with them," Ms Gillard said.
"We want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
"We are strongly positioned compared to other countries - we've acted here to cushion Australia from the full effects."
Australia's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.7 per cent in May, from an upwardly revised 5.5 per cent in April, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.
The fall in the number employed in May included a 26,200 drop in full-time workers and an 24,500 increase in part-time workers.
Total employment fell by 1,700 to 10.793 million in May, seasonally adjusted.
The outcome compared to the median expectation in financial markets for total employment to decline by 30,000 in May, and an unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent.
"This increase is in line with market expectations," Ms Gillard said.
"We've always said we were not immune from the global recession."
