Despite national economic headwinds, Tasmania’s strong economic performance is keeping our employment market strong, thanks to the sound economic management of the Rockliff Liberal Government.
The latest ABS Labour Force data for August 2023 shows 289,100 Tasmanians are in work, driving economic growth and putting food on the table for their families. This continues a long-term trend of the lowest average unemployment in the history of our State.
This means that nearly 4,500 more Tasmanians are in jobs compared to the same time last year, and 54,000 more are in work compared to when the disastrous Labor-Green government was voted out in 2014.
Treasurer, Michael Ferguson, said Tasmania is also employing a historically high number of women with 139,300 women employed, an increase of over 28,000 since 2014.
“The unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent maintains our low unemployment rate, significantly lower than the 7.6 per cent rate in 2014 under the former Labor-Green experiment,” he said.
“These numbers continue a two year period of the lowest long-term unemployment for our State since the ABS started collecting this data in 1978.
“Despite an increasing population, there are over 5,600 fewer unemployed Tasmanians than when we came to Government in 2014.
“We can expect the Labor Party – which destroyed industries and jobs to be negative again today – it’s all they ever do. Dr Broad can cherry-pick statistics and talk down our State all day, but the facts remain clear.
“The former Labor-Green Government trashed Tasmania’s economy when they were last in power.
“There were over 54,000 fewer jobs.
“The unemployment rate in 2012-13 was 7.2 per cent – with the employment rate in free fall on a year-average basis.
“State Final Demand contracted for six out of seven quarters between December 2011 and June 2013.
“Gross State Product was 22.7 per cent lower, with the overall economy contracting in 2012-2013 to a negative Gross State Product growth of 0.6 per cent.
“Retail Trade was over 55 per cent lower.
“And, Tasmania was performing worse under all metrics compared to today according to Commsec’s State of the States report.
“In comparison, under our Government, Tasmania’s economy is thriving. While Labor reminisces of the bad old days when they were in government and unemployment was double what it is now, the Rockliff Liberal Government is focused on delivering on its long-term plan to build a strong economy and deliver jobs.”
