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More than 52,000 South Australians are unemployed, the final jobs figures before the 2018 state election show

THE final unemployment figures before the South Australian election have been released — and it isn’t good news for Labor.

Holden hails job transition program for sacked workers

SOUTH Australia’s unemployment has jumped from a seasonally-adjusted 5.9 per cent to six per cent, in the final set of official jobs figures before the March 17 state election.

The national jobless rate fell from 5.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent in January, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In trend terms, an estimated 52,700 SA residents were unemployed and looking for work.

Employment Minister Kyam Maher said creating jobs was the Government’s number priority, but there is more work to be done.

“We are investing in the jobs of the future to create more jobs in areas like advanced manufacturing, food, wine and tourism, games development and health industries,” he said.

“The Liberals dared Holden to leave SA and then they predicted unemployment would be in the double digits — on both accounts, they got it wrong.”

The former Holden factory in Elizabeth. Picture: Bernard Humphreys
The former Holden factory in Elizabeth. Picture: Bernard Humphreys

It comes at the same time as Australian Crane and Machinery became the first business to move into the former Holden site at Elizabeth.

The crane manufacturing centre will create about 190 jobs as part of a $16 million investment — in which the Government kicked in $2.2 million of taxpayer funds.

But Liberal employment spokesman Corey Wingard says the figures show that Labor’s priority to create jobs is a falsehood.

“There is no way for Labor to spin themselves out of this,” he said.

“These figures show that there are 592 fewer full-time jobs today than there were in February 2010, when Mike Rann promised 100,000 new jobs — it’s a disgrace and South Australians will not be fooled by Jay Weatherill and Tom Koutsantonis at this election.”

When the Weatherill Government was re-elected in 2014, the unemployment rate was 7.1 per cent.

Queensland’s 6.1 per cent jobless rate is the highest in the nation.

Unemployment across Australia

■ South Australia — 6%

■ New South Wales — 5.1%

■ Victoria — 5.6%

■ Queensland — 6.1%

■ Western Australia — 5.7%

■ Tasmania — 5.3%

■ Northern Territory — Not available

■ ACT — Not available

■ Australia — 5.5%

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/more-than-52000-south-australians-are-unemployed-the-final-jobs-figures-before-the-2018-state-election-show/news-story/0b206857207d5496a23cd731148250e7