50-year low for jobless

THE number of jobless Australians has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 50 years, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison seizing on the numbers to boost the Coalition’s record in the final sprint of the campaign.

Unemployment figures revealed 4000 jobs were added to the national economy in April, with the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropping to a historic 3.9 per cent – the lowest in 48 years.

But the number of people looking for jobs also fell by 7000, with economist Matt Grudnoff from the Australia Institute saying people giving up looking for work contributed to the “lion’s share” of the headline figure.

NSW, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia all saw the number of unemployed people decrease, with Queensland and Victoria experiencing a mild uptick.

Highlighting the ongoing impact of Covid-19, Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said about 740,000 people worked reduced hours in April because of illness.

Mr Morrison, seizing on the unemployment figures on a day Labor revealed its policies would cost the budget an extra $7.4bn, said the “most important job” a federal government had in “managing the economy” was to get “people into jobs”.