NSW leads improvements – but VIC could be facing severe headwinds
Almost half of Australians who lost their jobs during the pandemic have now regained employment, according to new figures released by the Federal Government.
The statistics have shown the country's effective unemployment rate has dropped from 14.9% in April to 9.9%, however the Government has warned unemployment will increase again.
Approximately 1.3 million Australians lost their job during the height of the pandemic, but now almost 700,000 people are employed again. Most of these jobs have been created in NSW, with 315,000 people finding employment.
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the country is really at two stages when it comes to dealing with COVID-19 – “there's Victoria and there's the rest”.
“When you look at the rest of the country, restrictions are being eased as the virus is being got under control and jobs are coming back, and we've seen in the last two months some 340,000 new jobs being created and importantly that's been right around the country,” Frydenberg told 5AA Adelaide.
He added that in n South Australia, we have seen 51,000 jobs come back. We've seen particularly strong growth in New South Wales, as well as Western Australia.
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“Importantly, jobs are coming back for women and for young people as sectors like hospitality and retail start to open up,” said Frydenberg.
“But Victoria is a very different situation altogether, we're subject to stage four restrictions in Victoria and it’s Treasury's analysis that up to 400,000 Victorians will either lose their job or see their hours reduced down to zero as a result of those restrictions.”
Frydenberg added that the Government’s focus is to assist Victoria, stem the tide of new cases, flatten that curve and then gradually ease the restrictions.
“That’s what we’re doing with the deployment of around 1,700 Australian Defence Force personnel, other specialist medical teams, as well as, obviously, the overwhelming economic support that we’ve provided to Victoria with the changes to JobKeeper, with the paid pandemic leave, as well as the additional funding for childcare.”
