With COVID-19 here to stay for a while South Australia’s unemployment rate has reached a new high and now has the highest rate of unemployment in the country.
As Australia eerily enters into a dark recession, unemployment rates have risen 0.3% between May and June. South Australia has seen the biggest incline in numbers rising from 7.9% to 8.8% in just a month.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg commented that even though statistically the national unemployment rate has risen to 7.4%, the reality is much higher at 13.3%.
According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics the climb in SA’s unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in over 20 years.
As the state’s COVID-19 restrictions ease, the percentage of people now actively seeking work has increased, therefore increasing the overall participation rate which in turn has pushed the unemployment figures.
South Australian Innovation and Skills Minister David Pisoni has commended the readiness of residents to get back to work with the easing of restrictions. With a “record infrastructure spend” happening in South Australia, the State Government is working to create more jobs to see more people back at work in the state, Mr Pisoni said.
Premier Steven Marshall contended that 11,400 jobs had been created in the past month but with unemployment rates at an all-time high the State Government has a long way to go.
South Australia ended 2019 with an unemployment rate of just 6.2%, at the time, skill the worst in the country. With a devastating fire season and the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic, it is estimated that a further 29,000 people in the state have lost their jobs since January.
Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas has said that unemployment rates in the state never had to get this bad. The rates a clear error on the State Government’s behalf in their failure to save existing jobs and create new jobs, he said.
With South Australia having the best COVID-19 response in the country, Mr Malinauskas says it’s South Australia’s “economic response, led by Steven Marshall” that has “delivered the worst unemployment rates in Australia.”
The economy will be slow to get moving again, especially as Victoria and New South Wales grapple with a second wave. With the Federal Budget postponed to October 6, Josh Frydenberg plans to announce a mini-budget in the coming weeks that should clear up the Job Seeker uncertainty and help South Australian’s stay afloat while they get back to work.
