Job vacancies bad news for new Premier, bad news for Tasmanians

Tasmanian Labor
  • Jobs
    vacancies go backwards
  • A series of
    economic analyses sends a warning
  • Businesses
    deserve more from government than platitudes
  • In another sign that
    business confidence is waning in Tasmania, job vacancy data out today brings
    bad news for the new Premier.

    Shadow Treasurer David
    O’Byrne said Peter Gutwein would be the first to point to job vacancies as a
    sign of confidence in the economy.

    “Today’s data shows job
    vacancies fell 9.5 per cent over the past year. That’s the worst outcome of any
    jurisdiction other than New South Wales (14.1%) and the Northern Territory
    (9.7%).

    “In the new Premier’s own words, growth in job vacancies indicates that businesses are confident and looking to hire people. What we see here is just the opposite.”

    Mr O’Byrne said this is just
    the latest in a series of worrying indicators suggesting business confidence is
    sliding.

    “Peter Gutwein’s talk of a
    golden age is starting to sound a little hollow, and more on the same from this
    Government will zombie walk us into the tougher times ahead.

    “Government members are
    dressing up in high vis at hastily convened media conferences to paper over the
    cracks of their dysfunction and division.

    “But the businesses community wants to know how Government plans to break Tasmania out of the boom and bust cycle we’ve seen over recent decades, and they need a plan now before it is too late.”

    David O’Byrne

    Shadow Treasurer

    /Public Release. View in full here.