MINISTER ROBERT:
Good afternoon. Great to be here with my friend and colleague, Minister Hume, the Minister for Women’s Economic Security, to talk through today, the very pleasing set of employment numbers that have come from the January set. The numbers today show quite clearly that the economy is continuing to strengthen and is showing enormous resilience. In short, the Morrison Government's economic plan is working. When we came to government, we inherited an unemployment of 5.7 per cent. In fact, the now Opposition at the time made the point that the government should be judged on whether and where jobs go.
Well, jobs today at 4.2 per cent, the equal lowest since August 2008. Pleasingly, participation rate; the number of Australians participating now in the labour market – and this was in January, at the height of Omicron – at 66.2 per cent, the second highest in our nation's history. Pleasingly, youth unemployment now at nine per cent, the lowest in 14 years, coming down 0.4 per cent, which is showing quite clearly that a wide spread of Australians are now actively participating in the jobs market.
Part time as a percentage of employment is down 0.3 per cent compared to pre‑pandemic, which indicates as the economy is strengthening, there are more full time jobs coming through. Unemployment or underemployment at 6.7 per cent is 2.1 per cent lower than pre‑pandemic. Again, more Australians participating, more younger Australians participating, lower levels of underemployment. Right across the board, we're seeing a record 13.255 million Australians in work. That is 259,000 more than pre‑pandemic. Australia remains only one of a very, very small set of nations across the world that has got more of their citizens in work now than pre‑pandemic. All of this demonstrating that the Morrison Government's economic plan is working.
In terms of the strength of the jobs market, the Internet Vacancy Index, the numbers came out yesterday shows 259,000 jobs available right now, right now. 90,000 more jobs than pre‑COVID, again demonstrating the strength of the economy. If you think back to the last great economic shock in the GFC, post‑GFC, the degree of Australians who were under unemployed continued through the years till now, to the point that as we went into this downturn, 17 per cent of Australians in March 2020 on unemployment benefits became unemployed during the GFC. The results of that downturn showed an essential scarring of the labour market. Now, with a record $7.8 billion of investment by the Morrison Government in skilling, we're seeing a record number of trade apprentices, 220,000, the highest since records were kept in 1963, and over 300,000 Australians now in JobTrainer. What this shows is that the Morrison Government is delivering generational skilling, not generational scarring. And that is one of the great outputs of the Morrison Government's economic record and our response to the pandemic. I’d love now to hand over to Minister Hume, the Minister for Women's Economic Security, with some extraordinary results out of today's numbers. Thanks, Jane.
MINISTER HUME:
Well, thanks, Stu. The Morrison Government is committed to ensuring that Australian women get the choices and chances that they expect and deserve. And today's really encouraging labour force figures show that our economic plan is working, that the economy is recovering from the COVID pandemic, and that Australian women are significant beneficiaries.
Today's labour force data shows a record high female participation rate of 62.1 per cent. That's the highest female participation rate in the workforce in history. It's increased around 3.5 per cent under this government, whereas it fell under the previous Labor government. In January alone, an additional 66,500 jobs went to women.
And there are now more than 1 million women more in work than when we came to office. In fact, there's 1 million and around 50,000 more women in work today than when the Coalition came to office. And 700,000 of those jobs are highly skilled jobs. They’re managerial, they’re professional roles. And women's underemployment has also decreased. It was 10.6 per cent pre‑COVID, and it's now 7.9 per cent.
Now, these encouraging statistics don't happen by accident. They happen because governments reduce the barriers and they provide incentives, and increase the opportunities for women to participate more fully in the economy.
There's been a record take up of trades and apprenticeships and traineeships, as my friend Stuart Robert said. And in fact, 55 per cent of the places in the JobTrainer fund have gone to women. We've closed the gender pay gap, which is now around 14.2 per cent. And again, it was 17.4 per cent when we came to office.
In addition, you heard from the Treasurer earlier this week, who noted that the Morrison Government's personal income tax plan has delivered more than $14.4 billion in tax cuts to more than 5.2 million Australian women since the plan started in 2018‑19. And young women have benefited the most. Young women under 24 have seen their tax bills reduced by around 20 per cent. And young women between the ages of 25 and 34 have seen a 15 per cent reduction in their tax bill. And overall, on average, Australian women are around $3,130 better off after our tax cuts since the year‑ since 2018‑19. So respect and dignity, and choice, and opportunity are fundamental to women's economic security and safety. And the women's budget statement last year in the 2021 Budget was a $3.4 billion investment in initiatives that promote those values. A strong economy, increased opportunities, reduced barriers, and increased incentives to participation is the best way to ensure that women in Australia get the choices and chances that they expect and deserve.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Thanks, Jane.
QUESTION:
Minister Robert, on the job creation in January, 13,000 jobs net were created. Digging into the numbers, about 17,000 full time jobs were lost, 30,000 part‑time jobs added. Where are those full‑time jobs going?
MINISTER ROBERT:
If you think pre‑March 2020 to now, there is a higher proportion of full‑time jobs than part‑time. There's always a mix, of course, in the economy. One of the strongest growth areas is in the care workforce. The next five years, the National Skills Commission tells us we’ll need about one million extra workers in the workforce, and a quarter of those will be in the care workforce. And if you superimpose that with the JobTrainer, the top three or four is attendant care Cert3 in Early Childhood‑ Diploma in Early Childhood, and then Diploma in Nursing. So we’re seeing a very strong growth in that care workforce.
QUESTION:
Does that raise a concern about underemployment, though in the longer term, if those trends continue over the coming months?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Again, the numbers speak for themselves. Underemployment at 6.7 per cent is 2.1 per cent lower than in March 2020, which shows that the market is soaking up as much labour as it possibly can. That’s a great thing about youth unemployment coming down at 9 per cent. Post‑GFC it was 14.5; here at 9 per cent, quite an extraordinary difference, and that goes to the strength of the economy that we’re seeing record female participation, we’re seeing lower of underemployed. We’re seeing a lowering of youth unemployment, which is taking young people ostensibly with little or low skills, and of course we’re seeing the JobTrainer fund at 300,000 being soaked up. All this bides very well in terms of the strength and the resilience of the economy. Remember, it wasn't so long ago we had substantial issues in terms of the services versus goods trade‑off. We had issues when it came to supply chain, all of those are being worked through. We had Omicron coming through, and you're seeing a reduction of hours worked across New South Wales and Victoria, which is especially due to Omicron. Yet despite all of that, we're seeing the numbers coming out today, which speaks very much to the strength of the economy and how the Morrison's Government policy settings are increasing that strength by skilling a workforce.
QUESTION:
Minister Robert, the total hours had dropped 8.8 per cent on that data, given Omicron. Treasurer yesterday said that a potential ‑ another wave, another Omicron wave or a new variant wave could happen in winter. Is there something that the Government should be looking at to sort of mitigate that total hours lost for a potential ‑ another wave in winter? Is that something that we should be looking at and learning from what's happened in January?
MINISTER ROBERT:
If you look through the numbers lost, all states and territories except WA actually had hours lost. Tale of two cities, if you like; New South Wales at 13.5 per cent drop in hours, Victoria at 13.2 per cent which goes to your point that we saw a drop of hours. A lot of that's due to sickness, people unwell or people self‑isolating. There's also a degree of annual leave. And this is the first time, of course, you've seen the reference period from 2 to 15 January for about five years, you'll see a higher uptake in annual leave absences. Now, as that's gone through, the National Cabinet has adjusted things like timings for close contacts, definition of close contacts so you can get more and more people into work. National Cabinet has made the point that they'll continue to adjust those close contact settings as required as we move forward into winter.
QUESTION:
So you’d be confident to say that if another wave would happen, that those numbers and hours probably wouldn't drop as much as what we saw in January?
MINISTER ROBERT:
If these numbers are reflective of the close contact rules at the time, they then change to allow more and more people back into the workforce. To give you an example, during the reference period, we had up to 500 childcare centres closed. Yesterday it was 56, mostly in New South Wales, where early childhood centres are actually smaller. So again, we're seeing from yesterday the number of closures – one‑tenth of what they were in January. So that’s the impact to what happens when you adjust those close contact rules to give you an idea of what an impact may be further on.
QUESTION:
Looking at those states individually, Minister Robert, in South Australia there was a notable uptick in the unemployment rate at almost 1 per cent – I think it was 0.9 per cent in South Australia. Is there a particular reason that in South Australia there would be that uptick specifically?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Again, it varies across the states, as does participation. You'll see participation rate lower in New South Wales, but a staggering 72‑plus per cent in Northern Territory because of the young age of its population, and therefore you see a higher participation rate in Northern Territory. Remember the reference period – the first two weeks of January as Omicron was coming through, and that‑ you start to see that the drop‑off in hours worked in South Australia, but more pronounced in New South Wales and Victoria. That very much explains those drop‑offs in hours, but you're also seeing a very strong participation as workers are coming back and streaming back. Once we're through Omicron, we've always said that COVID makes numbers go up and down, but the trend here gives us an idea. Very strong participation, very strong economic growth gives a very strong reason as to why Dr Lowe at the Reserve Bank sees GDP growth this year at 4 per cent and unemployment coming down to three with this strong participation
QUESTION:
Will the shedding of the hours worked impact the GDP at all, or…?
MINISTER ROBERT:
It's a month’s shedding of hours worked just for one month, in terms of two states. When you wash that out across an economy, and especially an economy that’s growing, any effect would be marginal.
QUESTION:
Minister Hume, I just have a bit of a financial question which is part of your portfolio as well. AUSTRAC today had said that they're going to probe into Bell Financial in potential…
MINISTER HUME:
[Interrupts] I’m sorry, into what?
QUESTION:
Bell Financial.
MINISTER HUME:
Bell Financial.
QUESTION:
So, the stock broking company. I just wanted as the Financial Service Minister, does that concern you that a big stock broking firm and a big financial advice firm is being probed by the watchdog over AML CTF potential breaches? Does that kind of concern you that there is that potential area of stock broking?
MINISTER HUME:
Well, it certainly ‑ I find that it is encouraging that AUSTRAC has, you know, proactively gone out to say that it is going to investigate ‑ is it Bell Financial?
QUESTION:
Yeah.
MINISTER HUME:
Bell Financial is the name of the organisation, isn't it? That proves that AUSTRAC is doing the job that we've set them out to do. I'm sure Bell Financial has, you know, appropriate compliance and safeguards in place, but if they're inadequate, then AUSTRAC should look at Bell Financial.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Thanks, everyone.
QUESTION:
Just one final question just to both of you. There is a number of MPs on both sides now that have tested positive to COVID in the past 48 hours ‑ 72 hours. Are either of you taking particular precautions to keep safe?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, I’ve been tested yesterday – in fact, a rapid antigen test and a PCR yesterday with many of my ministerial colleagues. Everyone is advised strongly to continue to do social distancing precautions and the normal hygiene precautions, as we all should. The National Cabinet, of course, is working through from going from plan or phase C to phase D of the National Plan, which is COVID becoming endemic in our society. They'll continue to monitor that. Would say, to all Australians, get a booster shot. I had mine in very late December, the third shot. So as you become eligible, all Australians should go out and do that, noting our vaccination rates are some of the highest in the world, which is quite extraordinary, and all Australian’s should continue to manage social distancing and the hygiene measures as appropriate as recommended.
MINISTER HUME:
I too have had both a PCR test and a RAT test this week. And you know, good news ‑ all both have come up negative. We're having socially distanced Senate Estimates. I'm not sure whether that's a good that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we're all taking all precautions that are required.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Tremendous, thanks very much.