Economic plan supporting regional jobs
May 25, 2017
Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment, Curtis Pitt, says the coming State Budget will continue efforts to tackle regional and youth unemployment.
Mr Pitt said ABS regional figures highlight the benefit of the government’s Back to Work program announced in last year’s State Budget to provide $10,000 and $15,000 incentives for regional employers hiring unemployed or long-term unemployed jobseekers.
“In December I announced a $20,000 Back to Work Youth Boost for engaging 15-24 year olds,” he said.
“Our Back to Work programs have so far seen 4,100 regional Queenslanders engaged by almost 2,000 employers.
“That’s an outstanding result and I congratulate employers who are using the program to give jobseekers a chance to get back to work, or to start their careers.
“Across the state our economic plan has seen close to a net 60,000 jobs created since the January 2015 state election.”
Rates fell from April 2016 to April 2017 in:
- Townsville experienced its second consecutive monthly fall — down 0.6 percentage points to 10.7% in April
- Cairns recorded its lowest monthly rate since September 2011 — down 0.2 percentage points to reach 7.1% in April which is down 0.8 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Ipswich — down from 7.8% in March to 7.4% in April which is 1.2 percentage points lower than at the January 2015 state election
- The Wide Bay region — fell from 9.5% in March to 9.3% in April which is down 0.8 percentage points since the January 2015 state election.
“We know we must do more to tackle unemployment in all regions, especially those where rates showed a rise in the latest monthly figures,” Mr Pitt said.
The ABS figures showed jobless rates steady in a number of regions: Gold Coast (5.3%); Darling Downs/Maranoa (3.6%); Moreton Bay North (6.4%) and Moreton Bay South (4.4%). The Gold Coast rate was 0.7 percentage points lower than at the January 2015 state election.
The ABS figures showed rates rose from March and April in:
- Logan/Beaudesert — from 5.6% in March to 5.8% in April but 2.6% lower than at the January 2015 state election
- Sunshine Coast — from 5.0% to 5.1% in April but 2.2% lower than at the January 2015 state election
- Fitzroy — from 6.7% in March to 6.9% in April but 0.8 percentage points lower than the post-mining boom peak of 7.7% in October 2015
- Mackay — from 5.7% in March to 5.8% in April, but 2.2 percentage points lower than the post-mining boom peak of 8% in December 2015
- Toowoomba — from 5.3% in March to 5.5% in April
- Outback — from 11.4% in March to 12.6% in April.
The statewide youth unemployment rate of 13.7% in April remained steady and was 0.4 percentage points lower than at the 2015 state election.
Mr Pitt said it was encouraging to see youth jobless rates fell over the 12 months to April 2017 in nine of 14 regions outside Brisbane:
- Ipswich — down 0.7 percentage points to 13.1% in April and down 4.5 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Moreton Bay North — down 1.1 percentage points to 12.0% in April and down 4.7 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Moreton Bay South — down 0.3 percentage points to 10.2% in April and down 0.7 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Gold Coast — down 0.2 percentage points to 11.9% in April and down 2.7 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Sunshine Coast — down 0.2 percentage points to 10.8% in April and down 4.1 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Cairns — down 0.4 percentage points to 20.6% in April and down 0.9 percentage points since the January 2015 state election and down from a peak of 28.0% in November 2016. It is the lowest rate since February 2016 when it was 21.7%
- Fitzroy — down 0.1 percentage points to 12.5% in April compared with a peak in September 2015 of 14.4%
- Toowoomba — down 0.3 percentage points to 9.2% in April and down 2.2 percentage points since the January 2015 state election
- Wide Bay — down 0.8 percentage points to 23.9% in April.
Youth unemployment rates rose from March and April in:
- Logan/Beaudesert — from 12.3% to 13.2% but 2.4 percentage points lower than at the January 2015 state election
- Darling Downs/Maranoa — 9.3% to 9.4%
- Mackay — 9.9% to 10.2% in April compared with a peak of 16.2% in December 2015
- Townsville — from 21.7% to 21.8%
- Outback — 41.1% to 48.4%.
“We want to see job opportunities open up for all young Queenslanders, and like general unemployment in regional communities, we know we need to continue our efforts to lower youth unemployment rates,” Mr Pitt said.
“At this stage I can say that the 2017-18 State Budget will continue our focus on job-creation and our support for regional communities.
“When this government talks about jobs we mean creating them. When the LNP talks about jobs they mean cutting them.
“The coming State Budget will show that’s still the case,” Mr Pitt said.