Full-time employment in Queensland rose by 49,100 over the year to August 2019, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.
Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad said the total number of jobs created under the Palaszczuk Government since January 2015 is now 216,100.
“During August alone employment in Queensland rose by 4,900 and follows a similar increase of 5,100 in July,” said Ms Trad.
“It reinforces the Government’s focus on job creation which was highlighted strongly in the State Budget which was all about backing Queensland jobs.”
ABS data shows Queensland’s trend unemployment rate in August remained at 6.4% while the participation edged up to 66.0%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points on a year ago.
“The data released today shows that more Queenslanders are continuing to enter the workforce or looking to enter the workforce,” said Ms Trad.
“As we all know having a job makes life easier for individuals and families.”
Ms Trad said the Government’s record $49.5 billion four-year infrastructure budget and a range of intitiatives designed to help businesses will continue to support job creation.
“Businesses across the State have warmly welcomed our payroll tax changes which encourage small and medium businesses and regional businesses of all sizes to put on more workers, by:
- Increasing the tax-free threshold for payroll tax from $1.1m to $1.3m;
- Reducing the rate of payroll tax by 1% for all businesses with 85% of their workforce in regional Queensland; and
- Continuing the 50% payroll tax rebate for apprentices and trainees.
“The Government is well aware that businesses are the driving force behind jobs growth so it is vital for us to set the right levers to help the business community,” Ms Trad said.
“Pleasingly the latest Sensis survey of small and medium businesses shows that Queensland recorded the highest confidence level of all mainland states with almost 60% of firms reporting that they are confident in the outlook.
“Our economic plan is working. And over 216,000 Queenslanders who have found work since January 2015 can attest to that.”
