The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) latest labour force data for September highlights once again that Western Australia’s economy is the strongest in the nation.
Western Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent in September, down 0.5 percentage points – the lowest in the country.
The total number of Western Australians employed rose to 1.427 million – the highest on record. An additional 3,600 new jobs were created in September, with a 10,800 increase in the number of people in full-time employment.
In contrast, nationally, employment fell by 138,000 in September.
Nationally, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in September. However, this does not take into account the more than 334,000 people who have exited the national workforce due to the New South Wales COVID-19 Delta outbreak.
If these people were captured in the national unemployment rate, it would have risen to around 7 per cent.
The national labour force participation rate fell to 64.5 per cent in September, while Western Australia’s participation rate remained the strongest of the States at 68.8 per cent.
Western Australia’s underemployment was the lowest of the States at 7.2 percent and the youth unemployment rate was also the lowest at 8.2 per cent.
Since the McGowan Government came to office more than 123,000 jobs have now been created, with around 44,000 created since the start of the pandemic.
As stated by Premier Mark McGowan:
“The labour force data for September continues to highlight that Western Australia has the strongest economy in the nation due to our efforts to keep COVID-19 out.
“The New South Wales COVID-19 Delta outbreak has had a devastating impact on the economies of larger east coast states.
“New South Wales and Victoria have been in lockdown for months, resulting in many people losing their jobs and troubling times for businesses.
“Western Australia has crushed any outbreaks of COVID-19 as quickly as possible, with just 12 days in lockdown since the initial outbreak of the virus.
“Western Australia has carried the nation throughout the pandemic thanks to our efforts to keep people safe and our economy open, strong and COVID-19 free.”
