Press conference - Brisbane
MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: As Australians are preparing for Christmas, there's good news today when it comes to jobs and wages of Australians. Our Government recognises that many Australians are doing it tough right now. And that's why our economic plan is all about supporting people with their cost of living pressures while bringing down inflation.
Today we see new data that shows more Australians are getting a job and they're earning more at the same time. Now, 2024 has been a challenging year for many Australians, with the global inflation surge still causing real cost of living pressures for many in our community. But today's data shows that the Albanese Government's responsible economic policy and our changes to workplace laws are delivering more jobs, better pay, and bringing down inflation. This is good news for Australian workers, Australian families, and Australian businesses as we approach the end of this year. And it gives us reason for optimism about the year ahead, with jobs growing, wages rising and inflation falling.
Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has handed down its final labour force data for the year. And there's some really encouraging results in that data. Just to take you through some of them. For November, the month of November, we've seen another 35,600 new jobs created in Australia just in November. And most of those new jobs have been full time.
These strong results that we've seen in November mean that full time jobs in Australia are now at a record high. And we're also seeing record full time employment of Australian women. For the year overall, from January to November, nearly 394,000 extra jobs were created in 2024 to date. And 85 per cent of those new jobs created this calendar year have been full time. An absolutely extraordinary figure which demonstrates the importance of creating secure, permanent full-time work for Australians.
Nearly 180,000 of the new jobs created in Australia this year have been jobs held by women. And more than 100,000 new jobs have been created this year for younger Australians.
And of course, this continued jobs growth shows and confirms that since our Government was elected in May 2022, 1,053,000 new jobs have been created in Australia. That continues to be a record. It continues to show that under the Albanese Government, we have created more new jobs in a single parliamentary term than any government in Australia's history has done of any political persuasion.
This is a remarkable achievement when you consider some of the global economic forces that we've had to deal with here in Australia, and in the context of a slowing economy with a labour market that was expected to soften. And I really pay tribute about this data to Australian employers and workers who've worked so hard to achieve these kinds of figures on the back of our Government's responsible economic management.
We've also seen good news today when it comes to the wages of Australian workers. The Trends in Federal enterprise bargaining report released by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations today shows that the Fair Work Commission approved an extra 933 enterprise agreements in the September quarter 2024, covering more than 340,000 employees. And even better, workers covered by a new federal enterprise agreement in the 2024 September quarter have received an average pay rise of 3.6 percent above inflation. And even higher pay rises have been achieved in the private sector at 3.9 percent. As I say, these figures for these wage rises are above inflation at the same quarter. So the Albanese Government continues to deliver real wage growth - the kind of growth that Australians need to deal with cost of living pressures.
Under our Government, we've seen the highest number of workers covered by enterprise agreements since 2020. And since 1 July 2022, 9,483 enterprise agreements have been approved covering 2.26 million employees in Australia. So those agreements are delivering better pay and conditions for workers and better workplace flexibility and productivity for employers. The cooperative enterprise agreement system that we've put together as a government is leading to greater workplace cooperation between employers, unions, and workers. And it's achieving better wages for workers and more flexibility and productivity for employers.
So, to summarise, we recognise that many Australians continue to do it tough right now. But just as we've had Australians back since we were elected in May 2022, we'll keep working hard as a government to deliver more jobs, higher wages, and lower inflation.
And we'll fight very hard in the months ahead to stop Peter Dutton and the Coalition from cutting Australians' pay, driving up their costs and making life harder.