SOUTH Australia’s nation-topping unemployment rate of 7.3 per cent has been garnering statewide attention since being revealed last week, but the figure in Adelaide’s north – including Gawler – is still higher.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) dropped its August Labour Force figures on Thursday, which saw SA register an unemployment rate a full two percentage points above the national average, and well above Queensland and Tasmania (6.4 per cent), Western Australia (5.8), Victoria (4.9) and New South Wales (4.3).
However, locally the figure is even higher, with the Adelaide- North region – which takes in Gawler and its surrounding suburbs, outer metro areas like Elizabeth, and also nearby townships in
the Adelaide Plains – sitting at 7.7 per cent, according to July figures.
The latest regional unemployment data, for August, won’t be publicly available until tomorrow, but one would expect the rate to increase in-line with the state-wide trend.
It comes after premier Steven Marshall defiantly declared earlier this month that SA has no unemployment problem “whatsoever”, after figures jumped to 6.9 per cent in July – the highest in two years.
In a statement, treasurer Rob Lucas labelled the latest data as “disappointing”, admitting that “while the number of jobs in SA grew during August, the increase was not fast enough to match the growing number of people looking for work”.
“The State Government understands the frustration of people looking for work and is committed to further increasing the number of jobs our economy is creating,” he said.
“Put simply, what happened last month was that while an extra 5300 people joined the workforce looking for jobs, 1400 of those found employment, meaning 3900 were without work.
“In fact, the change in government has seen a steady increase in the number of South Australians who want to work, which has driven the participation rate to near record levels in August.”
The July ABS figures stated there were 17,100 people without jobs in the Adelaide-North region.
Shadow treasurer Stephen Mullighan questioned whether the premier still believed SA had no unemployment issue in light of the recent statistics.
“If Steven Marshall won’t admit there’s a problem, how can South Australians have confidence he’ll do anything to create jobs?,” he said.
“Steven Marshall has increased a raft of fees, charges and taxes, made massive cuts to public services and investment in infrastructure has been delayed.
“Steven Marshall promised more jobs, instead he’s delivered the highest unemployment rate in Australia.”
Unemployment in the Adelaide-North region skyrocketed to 9.1 per cent in mid-2016 – likely impacted by the winding down of operations at Elizabeth’s Holden manufacturing facility, before it closed its doors in October 2017 – before steadily falling over the following two years.
It reached a six-year low of 7.2 per cent midway through 2018, before beginning to climb again in November.
Comparatively, the neighbouring Barossa-Yorke-Mid North region, which takes in Barossa Valley townships to Gawler’s north east, had a July unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent, with 3600 people out of work.
