Labour Force Data

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (14:41): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer provide the house with an update on the South Australian economy?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:42): Indeed, I can. I am very pleased to report to the house that, since we last met, three weeks ago there was a further update to labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Once again, as we saw in the previous month, records have been broken for the performance of the state's labour market.

The March data was the strongest month on record for South Australia's labour force, beating the previous record set only the month before. Our unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since monthly records began, at 3.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. This is lower than Queensland and Tasmania.

There are now a record 948,600 people employed in South Australia in seasonally adjusted terms. This is 11,600 up from the previous month and over 40,000 up from when the Malinauskas government came to office. Of the 948,600 jobs, 632,000 are full-time. This is also a record high: over 35,000 more full-time jobs than at the time of the March 2022 state election. That means that of the 40,000 jobs added since that time, 88 per cent of them are full-time jobs.

The record high employment and record low unemployment rates remarkably coincided with an increase in participation in the month of 10,700 people to bring the participation rate to 64.5 per cent. This is also the highest participation rate for the state's labour force since monthly records began.

In addition to the 40,000 more people in work since the last state election, there are also over 30,000 more people participating in the labour force than at the time of the last state election. There are 36,500 people still unemployed in South Australia. That is the lowest it's been for nearly 15 years, since August 2008, despite our working population being approximately 17 per cent larger than at that time. South Australia's employment-to-population ratio is currently the highest on record as well, at 62.1 per cent.

Earlier this week, we also had further good news on the state's economic front, with the release of the CommSec State of the States report. South Australia's economy is now ranked second in the nation, tying with Queensland for that second spot, behind Tasmania.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The member for Morphett says that it was first at the time of the last state election. It was fifth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer has the call.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Not even in Roman numerals do those positions look the same. There is no excuse for that interjection from the member for Morphett. The second strongest economy in the nation according to CommSec—really positive—and our 1.4 per cent annual population growth rate is nearly 50 per cent above the decade average for the year to September.

South Australia topped the State of the States report for construction work done. We earned a second spot for equipment investment, a key economic indicator of the private sector's willingness to invest. These two measures are important for jobs going forward and are key drivers of the current performance of our labour market. Construction creates jobs and equipment investment indicates that South Australian businesses are investing in their operations and their workforces.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: They seem to be a lot more confident now.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Cowdrey: Business confidence is down 20 points. What are you talking about?

The SPEAKER: Member for Colton!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Flinders has the call.