NT unemployment rate hits low unseen since 2007 as data reveals 600,000 Aussies out of work

UNEMPLOYMENT in the NT has hit its highest rate since 2007 with the latest jobs figures revealing 3700 Territorians lost their jobs in April

UNEMPLOYMENT in the NT has hit its highest rate since 2007, with the latest jobs figures revealing 600,000 Australians lost their jobs in April.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 3700 people in the NT lost their jobs in April, bringing the unemployment rate to 6 per cent from 5.5 per cent the month before.

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Nationwide 594,300 jobs were shed between March and April, seasonally adjusted, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison describing the figures as “devastating”.

The small jump in NT’s unemployment rate, reflected nationally as a rise from 5.2 to 6.2 per cent, is due to a large decrease in the participation rate, namely, how many people are actively looking for work.

A total of 3100 people left the NT workforce in April.

Chamber of Commerce NT chief executive Greg Ireland said he expected the figures to get worse.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a miracle cure to the unemployment rate in the short term,” he said.

Mr Ireland said the NT Government’s soon-to-be created Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission would need to work toward creating confidence in the economy to lure private investment.

Data from the ABS last month, analysing single touch payroll data, found nearly 12,000 jobs had been lost in the NT in five weeks since pandemic lockdown measures kicked in.

The number of jobs in the NT on average is about 200,000 and people, particularly those in the hardest hit hospitality and art sectors, tend to hold more than one job.