Our stable jobless defies other states

TASMANIA’S unemployment woes were dwarfed by big jumps interstate in June.

The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 6.9 per cent from the originally published trend figure of 7.0 per cent for May — which the Australian Bureau of Statistics revised to 6.8 per cent.

Tasmania compares with the stable national rate of 6.0 per cent, which came after the creation of 15,200 jobs, and the ballooning to 8.2 per cent in South Australia and a jump from 5.1 to 5.8 per cent in Western Australia.

The latest ABS figures showed that the number of employed people in Tasmania was even at 238,900 despite a drop of 400 full-time jobs.

The number of unemployed climbed marginally to 17,600 and the participation rate, the number working or looking for work, was even at 60.7 per cent. The figures came after job losses in manufacturing and mining, and coincided with Cadbury telling 90 staff they would finish work on August 14.

Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff said it was encouraging that the unemployment rate had been revised down under 7 per cent.

“Since the election, the unemployment rate has fallen by over half a per cent, with 4000 jobs created,” he said.

“Over the last 12 months, Tasmania has experienced the equal biggest reduction in the unemployment rate among the states and is one of three states to record a reduction in the unemployment rate in trend terms.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Scott Bacon said the data should sound alarm bells for the Government.

“Two thousand two hundred jobs have disappeared in Tasmania since Christmas and half of those positions have been full time,” he said.

“The participation rate continues to trend downwards which means Tasmanians are giving up looking for work and dropping out of the labour market altogether.”

Federal Employment Minister Senator Eric Abetz said Tasmania’s unemployment rate had dropped from 8.3 per cent to 6.9 per cent since the Coalition was elected in 2013.

He said the sky was the limit for tourism, seafood and dairy following the signing of free-trade agreements in Asia.

He said 9700 jobs had been created and there would be more when irrigation projects came on line and other major projects were in full swing.

Senator Abetz said that, nationally, the first half of 2015 had experienced the largest jobs growth for five years.