Labour market still strong in Western Australia
Issue Date: - Thursday, 8 November 2007
Western Australia remains the strongest labour market in Australia despite the unemployment rate increasing slightly to 3.6% in the month of October.
Western Australia is still a State of booming economy and employment opportunity despite figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics which showed the unemployment rate rising by a slight margin.
The national unemployment rate also increased from 4.2% to 4.3%.
Labour Relations Executive Director, Susan Barrera, said the minimal increase in unemployment is not cause for concern because it is clear that Western Australia is still in a time of economic boom.
“Today’s higher unemployment figures do not represent the longer-term trend for jobs in Western Australia. Monthly figures can vary considerably and not provide the true picture of the WA labour market.
“It should be noted over the past few months WA has maintained the lowest unemployment rate of all the States.
“With the youth unemployment at 11.1% Western Australia continues its record of lowest youth unemployment rate of all the states,” Ms Barrera said.
Western Australia has maintained the highest participation rate of all the states at 68.8% an increase from September, which recorded 68.7%.
“Despite the slight increase in the unemployment rate, 2,800 more jobs were created last month.
“This means that there are more people in the workforce than ever before with 1.2 million people in full time or part time work,” Ms Barrera said.