6 years ago
LONGEST RUN OF MONTHLY JOBS GROWTH EVER RECORDED
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
2017 was the best year for jobs growth ever and that growth is continuing into this year with the number of jobs in Australia increasing for the 16th straight month in January – the longest consecutive run of jobs growth ever.
Labour force figures released today by the ABS show that seasonally adjusted employment increased by 16,000 to a record high of 12,453,500.
The Turnbull Government has put in place the right policy settings and this is now paying off with our economy creating, on average, around 1,100 new jobs a day.
Part-time employment rose by 65,900 over the month, to a record high, of 3,992,600, and is now 110,100 (or 2.8 per cent) higher than a year ago.
The unemployment rate in January 2018 remained steady at 5.5 per cent.
Jobs growth over the last 12 months is almost five times stronger than Labor’s last year in government. In fact, 17,700 full-time jobs were lost in the last year of the Labor Government.
Since the Coalition was elected in September 2013, we have created 971,500 jobs, an increase of 8.5 per cent. Total employment and total part-time employment are at record highs.
The current rate of jobs growth remains high at 3.3 per cent over the year and is more than double the decade average rate of 1.6 per cent.
Minister for Jobs and Innovation, Michaelia Cash, said the fact that more Australians have jobs than ever before is a result of the hard work of the Turnbull Government.
“The best form of welfare is a job – when we came to government we made a strong commitment to create jobs and get people into work, and we are delivering on that,” Minister Cash said.
“Last year’s jobs growth broke records and we now have the longest run of jobs growth ever.
“The Labor Party continues to be silent on our record breaking jobs growth because in their last year of Government 17,400 full time jobs disappeared.”
“The job destroying policies of a Bill Shorten Labor Government would be a disaster for our economy and a threat to all those Australians who are working hard and want to get ahead.”