South Australia records best unemployment rate since January 2010

South Australia’s unemployment rate is now the lowest it has been in more than a decade, dropping below 5 per cent.

South Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest point in more than a decade, plunging well below 5 per cent.

Latest figures released today show SA’s unemployment rate for the month of July was 4.7 per cent – down from 5.3 per cent in the previous month.

No other state had a monthly reduction as significant as SA.

The state no longer has the title of worst jobless rate in the country, which now belongs to Queensland at 5.2 per cent.

The last time SA’s unemployment rate dropped below 5 per cent was in February 2010, when it was 4.8. In January 2010, the rate was 4.4 per cent.

SA Innovation and Skills Minister David Pisoni claimed the state was now “on the verge of effective full employment for the first time in a generation”.

“This is great news for South Australians thinking of buying a house, opening a business or looking to get a loan from the bank,” Mr Pisoni said.

The latest improvement could mark the start of a boost in local wage growth, as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the 2021-22 federal budget ruled out any wage rises until unemployment dropped below 5 per cent nationally.

Latest figures show wage growth in SA between June 2020 and June 2021 was 1.6 per cent – equal worst in the nation.

SA’s participation rate – the number of people employed or actively looking for work – increased slightly, but still remains the second lowest in the country at 62.9 per cent.

The state’s underemployment rate – a measure of people with jobs but working fewer hours than normal – increased by 0.5 per cent to 8.4.

New South Wales’ unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 per cent, but the economic effects of the state’s lockdown are already showing.

The number of hours worked in NSW plunged seven per cent and the state’s participation rate dropped 1 per cent.

NSW’s underemployment rate rose to 9.3 per cent, as 230,000 people were employed with zero hours, Mr Frydenberg said.

At 4.6 per cent, the national unemployment rate dropped to the lowest point since 2008 and was the second month in a row it has been below five.

The latest ABS Labour Force figures only take into account the first and second weeks of NSW’s lockdown.

Mr Frydenberg said the national rate “beat market expectations” of 5 per cent.

“Normally, when the unemployment rate hits a 12-year low, it would be a cause of celebration,” he said.

“But not today, as millions of our fellow Australians are in lockdown, as lives have been lost and as the economy has been hit hard.”

But Mr Frydenberg lauded the “enormous resilience” of the country’s economy.

“We’ve bounced back before as restrictions have eased, and we will bounce back again,” he said.

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