Grim jobs outlook despite increase

NEW data shows payroll jobs at the end of June will still be 5.7 per cent below mid-March.

“Since the low in mid-April, total payroll jobs have increased by 3.3 per cent,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“By the end of June, around 35 per cent of payroll jobs initially lost had been regained.”

Payroll jobs worked by females recovered through June, recording a 0.8 per cent increase compared to a 0.1 per cent decrease for males.

However, total female job losses since mid-March were still greater, at 6.0 per cent, compared to just 5.4 per cent for males.

Payroll jobs worked by people under 20 recovered more than for any other age group through June, increasing by 11.3 per cent.

“By mid-April, job losses for people under 20 were around 23 per cent, but by the end of June this number had reduced to around 5 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said.

The data follows calls to extend the JobKeeper allowance in the Far North.

Economist Roger Ward said employees who were currently on JobKeeper should seek certainty about their future prospects.

“If they feel that their employer may not have a job for them at the end of JobKeeper, then they need to look for other work — whether it be part-time, casual work or what have you,” Mr Ward said.

He predicted that redundancies would be a certainty, and the impact could spread to other cities.

“They may go back to Sydney or Brisbane, where they grew up,” Mr Ward said.

“That will take some pressure off.

“If we allow small businesses to collapse, the small business owners (may) lose their houses and then there comes the emotional destruction that comes with it. The day of reckoning is coming and everyone in the finance game is deeply worried.”