South Australia’s headline unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.9 per cent in August.
Over the last month an extra 13,400 jobs were created, and over the last three months more than 33,000 South Australians found work.
South Australia’s employment growth over the last month was the second highest of any of the states, second only to Western Australia.
More South Australians are actively seeking job opportunities, reflecting growing confidence in the local economy, and the highest growth in the participation rate of all the states.
In fact, the size of South Australia’s labour force has now returned to pre COVID levels.
Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said growing and maintaining local jobs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic remains a top priority for the Marshall Liberal Government.
“We are doing everything in our power to ensure as many local jobs as possible survive through the greatest economic challenge of our time, which is why we’ve committed $2 billion in economic stimulus measures, including significant payroll tax and land tax relief,” Minister Pisoni said.
“Nearly 100,000 jobs have been supported in SA through our $10,000 emergency cash grants, which have benefited more than 18,700 small businesses and not-for-profit organisations.
“We are also rolling out a record $12.9 billion pipeline of infrastructure works over the next four years to drive jobs and grow our economy – the largest investment in infrastructure over a four-year period in our state’s history.”
South Australia’s economy continues to perform relatively well compared with other states in its COVID-19 recovery.
“The latest weekly payroll and wages data showed SA recording the strongest jobs growth of every state apart from WA, since the pandemic’s low point of mid-April,” Minister Pisoni said.
“Employee wages have grown four times higher than the national level, while local consumers are rushing back to the shops, with the latest ABS retail figures showing more than $2 billion was spent in July – a 14 per cent jump on the previous year.
“All of these leading indicators are cause for optimism, and they are coupled with the release this week of stats which show SA leading the nation in the growth of apprentice and trainee commencements.
“Of course, there’s more work to be done, and today’s stats reflect the ongoing challenges ahead.”
