Press conference, Adelaide
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Today's Labour Force figures show the continued resilience of the Australian jobs market. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 per cent which is encouraging, and we have continued to see strong full-time jobs growth, with this month recording more than 38,000 full-time jobs, and full-time employment remaining at a record high. Over the past year, our economy has added 250,000 full-time jobs, and the take up of these full-time jobs for women is also at near historic highs. While the total number of people in a job decreased slightly, this came off a very strong employment number in April. This decrease can be explained by the fact that full-time employment increased strongly, while part time employment decreased. It was also encouraging to see that hours worked increased by 25 million hours over the month, this stands at a record high. It was also equally encouraging that our participation rate continues to remain strong at 67 per cent, higher than this time last year. Over the last three years, the Albanese Labor Government has added more than 1.1 million jobs to the economy. This is an increase of 8.4 per cent and is better than any other advanced economy. Our Government is firmly focused on making sure that we're creating jobs, that we keep unemployment low, that we also see real wage increases and at the same time, bringing inflation down. Now I'll take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Do you have any concerns about AI putting Australians out of work at all?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Artificial intelligence provides a huge opportunity for our economy, whether that's in productivity or indeed in economic growth. What we know is we will need to ensure that our workers are properly trained to harness the benefits that AI can bring to a workplace. I think that we will continue to see is high quality, secure jobs that is the focus of our Government, at the same time, being able to embrace technology so that we can continue to see productivity gains in our economy and, importantly, economic growth.
JOURNALIST: We're hearing that graduates are at most risk because entry level jobs can more easily be performed by AI. What pathways do you think will exist for graduates to progress in their careers?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I think it is important that our education and training system is preparing our new graduates for the world of work. There is a lot of work being done across our Government, whether that is through Jason Clare in Education and Andrew Giles in Skills and Training to ensure that we have an education system that's fit for purpose and prepares people into the jobs. We also have our importantly, Jobs and Skills Australia, which projects what are the types of jobs and what are the skills we need. So, our Government is absolutely focused on how we best prepare people to take up the jobs that will emerge. We know that there will be many jobs that will emerge as technology evolves, and we need to ensure that our workforce is prepare for that, and that is the work our Government is doing.