SA adds 13,500 jobs in August – but also records nation’s highest unemployment rate as jobseekers rush back

SA has again added thousands of jobs as the coronavirus recovery continues, but it hasn’t been fast enough to stop us recording the unwanted distinction of Australia’s highest unemployment rate.

• Daniel Wills: With good times long gone, states must go it alone
• The Advertiser +Rewards – giveaways, offers and competitions

South Australia has added a massive 13,500 jobs in the past month, but has also recorded the highest unemployment rate in the nation, as a flood of job seekers start hunting again.

ABS figures released on Thursday show SA holding steady, with the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate unchanged between July and August, and stuck at 7.9 per cent.

That is the highest headline rate in the country, as the national average fell to 6.8 per cent.

However, detailed analysis of the numbers suggests SA is on track to recovering many of the jobs that it has lost since the coronavirus lockdowns kicked off in March.

There are now 841,200 people employed in SA. That is up from 819,100 in April, and 827,700 in July. In March, there were a near-record 856,300 people with jobs.

However, SA’s position compared to other states is likely to spark calls for more aggressive stimulus in the November State Budget and fuel Labor claims not enough has been done.

Opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan has been regularly citing figures showing SA’s $1 billion stimulus has been the smallest of any state as a proportion of the economy.

At the same time as SA added 13,500 jobs in August, 14,100 more people also starting looking for work. That has the effect of keeping the headline unemployment rate flat.

Across the country, the ABS records an extra 111,000 jobs added in August.

Full-time employment increased by 36,200 people and part-time by 74,800 people.

“The large increase in seasonally adjusted employment coincided with a large decrease in unemployment of 87,000 people, around 55,000 of whom were females,” ABS head of labour statistics, Bjorn Jarvis said.

“With participation relatively unchanged, the increase in employment and decrease in unemployment saw the unemployment rate decrease 0.7 percentage points to 6.8 per cent.”

The figures were released as SA Treasurer Rob Lucas said the upcoming SA budget was the most unique and challenging one he had witnessed in a nearly 40-year career in politics, as the State Government battles with wildly fluctuating revenue forecasts and formulates new stimulus plans.

Both federal and state governments are now entering the closing stages of budget preparation, with the former to deliver its document on October 6 and the latter November 10.