WA’s jobs and economic recovery continues

  • Unemployment rate continues to recover, falling to 6.7 per cent in September
  • WA now has the equal lowest unemployment rate of all the States, below the national rate
  • 2,900 Western Australian jobs created in September
  • 73.7 per cent of jobs lost due to COVID-19 have now been recovered
  • WA Recovery Plan and record infrastructure spend getting Western Australians back to work
  • The latest ABS labour force data released today shows Western Australia’s strong job creation and economic recovery is continuing, with an additional 2,900 jobs created in September.

    WA’s unemployment rate fell to 6.7 per cent, down from 7 per cent in August, meaning WA now has the equal lowest unemployment rate of all the States. By comparison, the unemployment rate in New South Wales rose to 7.2 per cent.

    The unemployment rate is now below the national rate, which rose to 6.9 per cent in September.

    Today’s data shows that 75,900, or 73.7 per cent of the jobs lost due to COVID-19 have now been recovered.  After being disproportionately impacted, 86.1 per cent of the initial losses in female employment have now been recovered.

    The underemployment rate fell to 9.3 per cent, to the lowest of all States and well below the national rate of 11.4 per cent.

    As stated by Treasurer Ben Wyatt:

    “These figures are very encouraging, and show that our strong response to the pandemic and the $5.5 billion WA Recovery Plan are working.

    “Our number one priority is to keep Western Australia safe and strong, while continuing to get Western Australians back to work as we continue the process of economic recovery.

    “We accept that there’s more work to do but the fact that WA now has the equal lowest rate of all the States does show we are heading in the right direction.

    “We will continue to work hard to ensure the jobs lost due to COVID-19 are recovered, plus new jobs created.

    “Our WA Recovery Plan, plus the record investment in job-creating infrastructure announced as part of the State Budget, have put us in a strong positon to recover, stronger than ever.”

    /Public Release. View in full here.