New ABS Labour Force Figures 20 July

The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Minister for the Arts

Close to half a million more Australians (498,300) are in work today than when Labor came to Government a little over a year ago.

Remarkably 85 per cent of those new jobs are full-time.

In the past 12 months female full-time jobs account for 54 per cent of all new jobs.

Unemployment across the country remains at an historic low at 3.5 per cent – and the rate in NSW has a two in front of it for the first time in recorded history, at 2.9 per cent.

This is what happens when you have a government that cares not just about delivering jobs – but delivering secure jobs with better pay and a better deal for women.

As far as the Albanese Labor Government is concerned, when somebody wants a job and gets a job, that is a success.

But we’re also committed to making sure that those jobs are well-paid and secure, so workers can look after themselves and their loved ones.

It’s why we twice backed a pay rise for Australian workers on the minimum wage, why we backed and funded a 15 per cent pay rise for aged care workers, and why we’ve introduced a better and fairer bargaining system.

That’s what our Secure Jobs, Better Pay laws – which passed the Parliament last year – were all about.

But there’s still more to do to stop the undercutting of pay and conditions for Australian workers.

That’s why we’ve been consulting extensively on new laws which we’ll introduce later this year to close the labour hire loophole, criminalise wage theft, fairly define casual work and set minimum standards in the gig economy.

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