Aust. jobless rate down to 8.2 per cent in July

Press, 12 August 1985, Page 40

Aust. jobless rate down to 8.2 per cent in July

NZPA-AAP Canberra

Figures given by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the unemployment rate in July fell to 8.2 per cent, its lowest level since October, 1982, and compared with 8.7 per cent in June and 8.8 per cent in July last year. Separate A.B.S. details released showed that average weekly earnings for all employees in the June quarter stood at $344.10, a rise of exactly $4 on the March quarter and an annual rise of 3.2 per cent. The Federal Employment and Industrial Relations Minister, Mr Willis, said the latest unemployment figure confirmed the “continuing strength of the economic recovery in Australia under the Hawke Government,” while the most recent wage increases were largely due to the “continuing success of the Prices and Incomes Accord.” ,

The unemployment statistics for the first-month of the 1985-86 financial year showed fewer adults and teenagers seeking work with each state and territory recording a fall in monthly unemployment levels with only Queensland having a higher annual out-of-work rate.

He said the Federal Government was on target to achieve its aim of creating

500,000 jobs in its first three years, with 410,000 new jobs emerging since April, 1983. According to the A.B.S. document, unemployment levels had fallen below 600,000 for the first time since October, 1982, to stand at 598,800, a fall of 29,800 in July. By comparison, the Federal Government fell short of its policy to create 150,000 new jobs in the 198485 financial year, which ended with the release of the June statistics, when monthly unemployment rose 0.3 per cent in June and 143,000 jobs appeared in the year.

Speaking in Brisbane, Mr Willis promoted Australia’s economic and employment growth in the last two years as “one of the outstanding success stories of the industrialised world.”

He said a national job growth of 6.6 per cent since April, 1983, was “far above the average for Western industrialised countries” and ranked amongst the highest for O.E.C.D. countries.

The Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Peacock, and Deputy Opposition Leader, Mr Howard, both welcomed the drop in unemployment, although Mr Howard explained that youth unemployment levels still meant that one in four teenagers were without a job.