Drastic reduction in Australian jobless rate, which is currently of 5.8 per cent, is a clear message that the economy has just started to recover following the outbreak of Corona virus and allied social restriction measure such as successive lockdowns.
The jobless rate fell to 5.8 per cent, when more than 89,000 Australians commenced work between January and February.
The number of Australians employed shot up by almost 89,000 between January and February, to reach well over 13 million.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data, the unemployment rate reduced by 0.5 percentage points to 5.8 per cent, with unemployment reducing almost by 70,000 people.
However, compared to March, the jobless rate is still 0.6 percentage points higher. There are still about 89,000 more jobless, as Australia began to impose strict lockdowns and social distance measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recovery of labor market
What the latest figures indicate is that Australian labour market has started to recover. According to AABS labour statistics head Bjorn Jarvis, the recovery is, particularly, relevant for women.
“The strong employment growth this month saw employment rise above 13 million people, and was 4000 people higher than March 2020,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there were now more jobs in the Australian economy than before the pandemic.
“That is something that is truly remarkable and is a great credit to every Australian who hung in there, every Australian business who kept people in jobs,” he said. However, he warned there was still more to do, including boosting the number of hours people were working.
“Particularly for young people. Even though the youth unemployment rate has pleasingly fallen, there is still a distance to travel.”
According to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, this shows the strength and resilience of the Australian economy.
The prime minister remained tight-lipped on whether companies that made a profit last year should pay back JobKeeper. He said profitable companies put people in work and invested in the economy.
According to CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman, this showed the extraordinary resilient, despite two key uncertainties for the labour market; the JobKeeper wage subsidy expiring at the end of the month and likely further job losses in Hospitality and Education Sectors.
“Despite the federal government’s announced $1.2 billion tourism relief package – jobs could be lost in the food and accommodation services and education sectors with international borders still closed,” Mr Felsman said.
“But on the flip side, an extended period of border closures could tighten the labour market with skills shortages already emerging in some key industries, like residential building.”
The ABS figures indicate full-time employment shot up by 89,000 and out of them 69,000 were women. Compared to March, female full-time employment was also 1.8 per cent higher. As opposed to female counterparts, male full-time employment was 0.8 per cent below and the number of working hours was also increased.
Labour market recovery is not without uncertainties; principal among them is how the expiry of JobKeeper wage subsidy would affect the labour market and there may be further job losses in the Hospitality and Education Sectors owing to slow pace of recovery in these sectors.
Before the global pandemic, international education was worth about $37.6 billion a year to the Australian economy and the Education Sector is expected to recover rapidly as Australian universities, once again, welcome international students. An important segment in the Australian Tourism Sector is Chinese visitors; compared to local tourist the average visitor from China spent $8,500 during their stay in Australia.
The positive trend is that even with shocks, the Australian economy is, apparently, on a path to speedy recovery.
