Unemployment Figures

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (15:08): My question is to the Treasurer. Whilst noting the significant reduction in the state's unemployment rate, does the Treasurer have any information on the effective unemployment rate in South Australia?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:09): I am pleased to share with members that I have referred to the federal Treasurer's and federal Treasury's preferred measure of unemployment in the nation, given the global pandemic that we are enduring, and that is the effective unemployment rate.

Just to remind members, that is a combination of not just those who are defined by the ABS as unemployed but also people who have left the labour force since the pandemic started in March. It also includes those people who have been stood down from their jobs. That is, they are recorded as having worked zero hours for economic reasons, so it is a larger number than the officially recorded unemployment rate by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

I do note the very pleasing results in terms of the unemployment rate as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which showed that South Australia's figure had dropped to 7.1 per cent for this month. Other states, such as Queensland, have the highest with 7.7 points; Tasmania, 7.6 per cent; New South Wales, 7.2 per cent; and South Australia then at 7.1 per cent. I must say that I have been anxiously scanning social media, looking forward to the Labor opposition welcoming the fact that the state's unemployment rate has declined. I am sure it is in progress.

The effective unemployment rate, as I said, the federal Treasurer has said is a better measure in terms of overall unemployment. Again, I am pleased to report that South Australia's effective unemployment rate on these September figures is 8.3 per cent—so higher than the ABS figure of 7.1 per cent—but the nation's effective unemployment rate is actually at 9.4 per cent, so South Australia's effective unemployment rate is actually a full percentage point plus some below the national effective unemployment rate.

Even more pleasing is the fact that, at its worst, our effective unemployment rate in April—so the first measure after the pandemic—was actually at an eye-watering 15.3 per cent. In that initial month there was a very, very significant increase in the effective unemployment rate. It has steadily declined from 15 to 13 to 11 and, as I said, at least on these figures, we are now down to 8.3 per cent, which is less than the nation's effective unemployment rate.

There is much more that needs to be done that the government has committed to doing. As I have said on any number of occasions, when the budget is brought down, this government will do whatever it has to and spend whatever it needs to to save as many jobs and as many businesses as we can as a result of the global pandemic.