Jobless fall reason for ’hope and confidence’

AUSTRALIA’S unemployment rate has fallen again, with federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg celebrating the 0.2 per cent drop as a good sign of economic recovery.

The rate dropped to 5.6 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, meaning an extra 70,700 jobs have been filled since February.

Mr Frydenberg said the figures were “another reason to look to the future with hope and with confidence”.

“This is more than twice what the market was expecting and, of those new jobs, around 80 per cent went to women and around half went to young people,” Mr Frydenberg said.

But with the new figures not yet taking into account the end of the JobKeeper wage subsidy, some have argued it is too early to celebrate.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said there was still a lot of uncertainty around the recovery.

“It’s too early for the government to be patting itself on the back before we know what the impact of those JobKeeper cuts and the abandonment of the government’s vaccination target will mean for the jobs market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Qantas said it expected a “sustained recovery” and a return to 90 per cent of its pre-COVID domestic capacity by mid-year.

The airline is also positive about the resumption of international travel.

It was a rosier picture than expected from Qantas after a positive uptake of the federal government’s half-price ticket scheme and big travel numbers over Easter.

But chief executive Alan Joyce said the March COVID outbreak in Brisbane showed the airline was still vulnerable to snap lockdowns, warning it was “important to keep this uptick in perspective”.

Rival carrier Virgin said overseas routes to Bali, the Pacific, Japan and the US would be among the first to resume.

Jetstar was expected to fly at 100 per cent by mid-year.