"Today's labour force release from the ABS is another pointer to the resilience of the Australian economy and how this resilience works to deliver benefits broadly across our society," Innes Willox Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"The economy has all but recovered all of the jobs lost due to the COVID-19 shock and the rate of participation in the workforce is now higher than it was a year ago. Without question, the recovery in jobs has been helped by the moderate wages growth we have seen over the past year. This has meant that the benefits of recovery have been distributed to people who otherwise would have been without work. The data also show that groups hit hard by the recession are now seeing better jobs growth, including for younger women, as their industries recover.
"While today's data release is clearly positive, some caution is still warranted. At 5.8 per cent, the unemployment rate is still too high. As well, key elements of fiscal stimulus – including JobKeeper – are being wound back and will be further withdrawn in the weeks ahead. This can be expected to at least slow the pace of jobs growth and there is a likelihood that unemployment and underemployment could worsen in the months ahead," Mr Willox said.
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