SA jobless rate rises again from 7pc to 7.3pc to be worst in the nation

SA’s jobless rate is again the worst in the country, jumping from 7 per cent to 7.3 per cent — while the national rate has dropped.

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THERE are enough South Australians looking for work to smash Adelaide Oval’s attendance record after the state’s jobless rate surged to 7.3 per cent — clearly the worst in the country.

The state was the only one to have the jobless rate rise as the national rate dropped by .2 per cent, with SA’s rate 1 per cent higher than next worst Queensland (6.3 per cent).

Of the 879,109 jobs created in the country in the last five years, only 11,000 have been in South Australia, just above 1 per cent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures have sparked calls for collaboration and structural reform with the closure of Holden’s Elizabeth plant looming large.

Master Builders SA chief executive Ian Markos said the rate, the highest since last February, should be the lightning rod for the state and federal Governments to work together constructively.

“Every other state recorded no change or enjoyed a fall in unemployment in April; South Australia is the outlier facing a harsh truth,” Mr Markos said.

“If anything brings people together today it should be this: South Australia has the highest

unemployment rate in the country while all other states are improving.”

Property Council executive director Dan Gannon said the fact unemployed South Australians would beat an attendance record set in 1965 — when 62,453 fans crammed into the ground for the SANFL grand final — should deliver a reality check.

“It’s time for long-term structural reform instead of short-term bandaids,” Mr Gannon said.

The figures showed a big shift in female unemployment, leaping from 6.8 per cent to 8.3 per cent on seasonal terms in one month, and now the highest since February 2000.

Employment Minister Kyam Maher said the state had been on the “right track” for the last 18 months, but the latest spike was “disappointing”.

“We see our numbers jump around a lot. Over the last year or so it’s jumped around by almost .5 per cent half the time,” he said.

“We’ve also seen a slowdown in traditional manufacturing, areas like automotive, particularly in the supply chain have seen jobs being shed and we haven’t seen the projects such as the naval defence shipbuilding come on as quickly as we would have liked to absorb those job losses.”

Liberal employment spokesman Corey Wingard said the State Government’s jobs creation budget had failed.

“The Government’s jobs killing policies have resulted in South Australia having 8,800 fewer fulltime jobs than in 2010 when Mike Rann promised to create 100,000 new jobs,” Mr Wingard said.

“Over the last seven years the only jobs growth in South Australia has been in part-time work.”

Federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the drop in national unemployment was “encouraging, yet highlight the need to continue the Government’s unwavering focus on economic growth and job creation”.

In last 5 years, Oz has added 879,100 jobs. In that time, SA put on just 11,000. Our population share should have been 61,500. @theTiser

— Daniel Wills (@DanWillsTiser) May 18, 2017

SA’s jobless rate is again the worst in the country.