SA jobless rate worst in country in January

SA basked in glowing unemployment numbers over December – but it’s all come crashing down in January.

South Australia has been given the unwanted title of having the worst unemployment rate in the country.

In January, the unemployment rate was 4.8 per cent, seasonally adjusted, a huge increase on the 3.9 per cent rate in December, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics report on Thursday.

Nationally, the rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent, short of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s hope of a rate “with a 3 in front of it”.

SA’s disappointing result was because 7300 fewer people were employed but the participation rate remained the same.

Men were worst affected – with 12,780 fewer employed, including a loss of more than 7000 full-time positions.

Women gained nearly 5500 jobs, with nearly 2000 of those positions full-time.

In December, SA had the second best unemployment rate after WA and equal to Tasmania.

Innovation and Skills Minister David Pisoni said SA was holding up well despite the effect of the Omicron wave in January.

“We knew the health restrictions put in place to control Omicron would have an impact on employment levels but for the unemployment rate to be just 4.8 per cent right in the middle of those restrictions is an incredibly strong result,” Mr Pisoni said.

“With health restrictions easing significantly, the latest support package for hospitality and more people returning to work in the CBD I’m confident there will be further strong jobs growth in the coming months.”

Opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan said SA was faring far worse than other states which were also hit by Omicron.

“That shows we haven’t managed the pandemic as well as other states,” he said.

Businesses had been plagued by uncertainty, undermining confidence to invest and employ, Mr Mullighan said.

The ABS estimates 875,300 people are employed in SA.

With population growth, the number of employed should increase steadily creating ongoing records in how many people have jobs.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the jobs’ market has been extremely volatile. The abnormal conditions have caused the ABS to suspend publishing trend data because they would be unreliable.

Property Council SA executive director Daniel Gannon said SA was still attracting new businesses.

“In the past week alone, companies like Quintessential Equity, PwC, CommBank, Salesforce and Nextdc have announced significant investments in our state,” Mr Gannon said.

The next ABS labour force report is due to be published on March 17 – two days before the state election.