Employer incentives create over 400 jobs

CHRIS CALCINO had been a monumental task. “These are nearly 420 jobs that otherwise would not have been there,” Mr Pitt said.

“When we talk about the jobs that have been created ... we are talking about 168 people of that number (being) long-term unemployed people.

“People who have not been able to secure a job for many, many months.”

The scheme, announced in June, offers regional employers a one-off $10,000 payment if they take on new workers, increasing to $15,000 if the new employee has been jobless for a year or more.

Mr Pitt said the city’s 8 per cent unemployment rate was too high, but predicted an upturn in the new year.

“We’re seeing great things happening on the local skyline,” he said.

“We’re seeing cranes for the first time in a long time.”

Conus Business Consultancy Services partner Pete Faulkner said the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ high un- employment figures could be misleading.

He said unemployment in Cairns was at an almost sixyear low of 6.3 per cent when seasonal trends were taken into account.

“We’ve seen an increase of 5300 jobs over the year to November and 2000 of those were full time,” Mr Faulkner said.

“There is nothing negative I can see about the numbers. Everything is moving in the right direction.”