Jim Chalmers’ ‘record jobs growth’ – from fifth place

The Albanese government’s jobs creation record is the fifth best among parliamentary terms going back to the late 1970s, despite Labor boasting of a record 930,000 increase in employment since the last election.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

The Albanese government’s jobs creation record is the fifth best among parliamentary terms going back to the late 1970s, even as Jim Chalmers boasts that Labor since coming to power has delivered the biggest increase in the number of employed Australians on record.

On Thursday, the Treasurer on social media platform X said new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the Albanese government “has ­created more jobs in a parliamentary term than any government in history”.

“We’ve created almost 930,000 jobs since we came to ­office – faster jobs growth than any major advanced economy,” he said.

Dr Chalmers’s statements are technically correct.

Analysis by The Australian shows the next nearest is the 916,000 jobs created in the three years to late 2007 under John Howard, and that is with potentially nine months remaining in this parliamentary term.

Counting employment growth gives a misleading impression of the true performance of the ­labour market, as there are 14.4 million employed Australians now against 10.6 million in late 2007.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said there was “no way” that a government’s record should be judged on the raw number of jobs created during a term.

“The labour market grows over time, so in theory it’s easier for successive governments to claim record jobs creation simply because the labour market is bigger.

“On that basis, a government back in the 1960s and ’70s would look pretty hopeless,” he said.

In percentage terms, the Albanese government’s 6.9 per cent increase in employment in this term so far is eclipsed by the 9.5 per cent jump under Mr Howard between 2004 and 2007.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said Dr Chalmers’s comments on the pace of job creation showed the government “was completely out of touch with the pain Australian families are feeling”.

“Labor’s jobs creation claim ignores the fact it is merely reflecting population growth,” he said.

“The Albanese Labor government is using population growth to attempt to conceal an economy that’s shuddered to a halt.

“Meanwhile, the Prime Minister and Treasurer keep telling Australians they’ve never had it better.

“Governments don’t create jobs, businesses do … businesses that are struggling under the weight of Labor’s excessive red tape and regulation.”

The Australian’s analysis reveals the number of employed Australians lifted by 690,000 during Bob Hawke’s final full term as PM between 1987 and 1990.

That was equivalent to a 9.6 per cent increase – the best on record stretching back to 1977.

Paul Keating inherited an economy running too hot, and the recession of the early 1990s then delivered the worst jobs per­formance of recent decades: 230,000, or 2.9 per cent, fewer Australians were in jobs by 1993 than in 1990.

In order to record the best jobs creation record for a parliamentary term in recent memory, the economy will need to add about 360,000 jobs by May next year.