Employment figures jumped up in August but “there’s still a long way to go”

While seasonally adjusted estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed an increase in employment of 121,000 people to 11,703,500 over August, Senator Eric Abetz warned “there’s still a long way to go.”

Abetz said in a press conference unemployment figures continue to bounce around for Australia. “Whilst you still have a 6 in front of the unemployment figure, we as a Government know that we need to do a lot as a nation to drive that figure down.”

With Tasmania recording the highest long-term unemployment rate as a percentage of the labour force, of all jurisdictions in the year to July 2014, over August Abetz described Tasmania’s employment lift as a “particularly pleasing development” but reiterated the point “there’s still a long way to go.”

“We look forward to working with the Tasmanian Government to achieve the sort of economic and social results that come from seeing a decrease in unemployment,” he said.

According to job site SEEK steady interest rates have driven labour demand across property and construction sectors and consumer confidence continued to improve in July from the 6.6% post-budget slump in May.

SEEK managing director, Joe Powell said with the volume of new job ads clearly outperforming those seen in 2013, the SEEK Employment Index showed that candidates remain confident in the employment market. “Hirers will continue to benefit from the improvement in business confidence as more quality candidates consider their career options.”