The Advertiser Jobs SA 2016 campaign a step towards fixing state’s unemployment problem

THERE’S no magic solution to the unemployment problems facing South Australia. But there is a simple one.

THERE’S no magic solution to the unemployment problems facing South Australia. But there is a simple one.

Instead of holding hope of a huge new enterprise riding into town with a plan to employ thousands of South Australians, we need first to look at ourselves.

More than 140,000 businesses operate in SA, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

If just half those firms employed one more person, SA’s 65,000 jobless would find work and unemployment would plunge from 7.5 per cent to zero.

If just one in 10 firms hired one person, SA’s rate would drop below the national average of 6.1 per cent.

There is no reason that this cannot happen.

The Jobs SA 2016 campaign, launched today by The Advertiser, aims to give businesses a helping hand towards making it a reality.

The Your Say SA survey, published last weekend in the Sunday Mail, found 81 per cent of nearly 6000 people who took part regarded jobs as one of the three biggest issues facing the state.

This is not surprising in light of the stories dominating the news agenda on large-scale job losses at big employers, such as at Alinta, Santos and BHP Billiton.

However, under the radar large numbers of SA companies are doing well.

The state is not in recession. Gross state product for the past financial year was $98.5 billion, with annual growth at 1.6 per cent.

What is lacking in the economy is confidence.

To restore confidence, SA must focus on what it can control.

We cannot control global commodity prices, foreign exchange rates or the forces smashing labour-intensive manufacturing.

We can control where we invest — and if we invest in people we will stimulate all activity and create a bigger pool of skilled workers.

That pool and SA’s cheaper costs of doing business will, in turn, attract more investors — creating a virtuous circle rather than the vicious spiral which looms as the alternative.

DIVINE YEAR OF FILM

THE “made in Australia” film brand is out of the doldrums this year, with Australian films earning their highest box office since 2001.

The year started with The Water Diviner, Russell Crowe’s Gallipoli saga filmed partly in South Australia, and was followed by Sam Worthington’s family- friendly Paper Planes.

In recent months two wildly different Australian stories have been runaway hits: Oddball, about a dog guarding a penguin colony, was a school holiday outing and more recently Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker, a gothic revenge story that was unevenly received by critics, has won hearts.

Nominations for the AACTA awards, to be announced on Wednesday evening, reflect the strength of the industry, and give a timely nod to South Australia’s role as part of the national picture.

Adelaide’s Sarah Snook, still in her 20s, is the only actress nominated in two categories, for best lead in the television series The Secret River, and for best supporting actress in The Dressmaker.

We wish her well next week and congratulate the industry on its success.