Press conference, Adelaide
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: The latest ABS data out today shows the unemployment rate for April increasing from 4.3 per cent to 4.5 per cent. This does demonstrate a softening in the labour market and is against the backdrop of escalating conflict in the Middle East in the month of April. Now these Labour Force figures are reflective of a time where we did see escalating conflict within the Middle East, of course, and concerns right around the global economy and ongoing challenges here domestically. However, today's Labour Force figures do show the resilience of the Australian labour market, because these figures are still at historically low levels. Our unemployment rate remains both at historically low levels, along with low compared to other like countries. Now, while unemployment did increase over April, we did see more people in jobs this April compared to April a year ago. In fact, there was an extra 128,000 people in jobs this April compared to April last year. Now we also saw the participation rate fall slightly, but these still remain near record highs, which means people are still participating in work or indeed looking for work. The figures also show that there was an increase in the numbers of hours worked and also a reduction in underemployment, showing that more people employed got the hours they wanted. Now, I have to say the ongoing issues and conflict within the Middle East is affecting the global economy, and Australia is not immune to that. But our government is absolutely committed to working for Australians and shielding Australians through practical measures from the worst of this conflict. Our government will continue to work, to make sure we're creating jobs, to provide tax cuts particularly for workers, and of course make sure we're lifting wages. And I'll go to any questions.
JOURNALIST: One of the major drivers of this increase in unemployment came in the form of women's unemployment increasing. What is your response to that?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, there's a number of figures that show the softening of the labour market. Of course, there was issues around women as well as an increase in youth unemployment. Now, these figures do bounce around month to month, but they also can particularly in the youth unemployment figure, demonstrate the beginning of the softening of the labour market. It is too early to tell, of course we'll have to look at figures that come out over the next couple of months, but what we are seeing though is the softening of the labour market. It is something that, in the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, and if we think back to that time, certainly petrol prices were higher. People were concerned that this conflict was going on longer than expected, and consumer confidence was down. Of course our government is working very hard to make sure that we're supporting Australians. But it would be wrong to suggest we were immune from what is a global conflict having a global impact across economies right around the world.
JOURNALIST: So women and young people do tend to be more commonly employed in casual roles and to see those employment rates decrease for those two demos in that period. Does this show that it’s- casual hours are just being slashed and their jobs are being slashed in the wake of this Middle East crisis?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, I can't make some comments about whether it's casual work. What I would say is underemployment is down and hours worked are up. But there is absolutely a case that when the labour market starts to soften, that youth unemployment can be what is called a lead indicator. It is too early to tell at this point. These numbers do bounce around from month to month, so I would not want to make any predictions. We will start to have a clearer picture as the next couple of months’ figures come out.
JOURNALIST: With the softening of the labour market, is the Labor Party concerned about that softening, or just monitoring the trends?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: We want to see as many people in jobs as possible, that is a critical belief of the Labor Party, so any softening of the labour market of course comes with concerns. But I think when we are talking about a figure of 4.5 per cent, this is at a low, a very low number in relation to historical history and historical standards. So we are of course always focused on how we create more jobs and get more people into work. But compared to historical standards this number low, but it’s also low compared to other countries around the world that are similar to our country.