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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-30 Daily Xml
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Employment Figures

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:30): My question is to the Treasurer. Given the generally gloomy labour force figures recently released for the Australian economy in South Australia, are there any slightly optimistic aspects of these figures that the Treasurer can enlighten us upon?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:30): I think it's fair to say that the recent unemployment figures nationally and in all the states and territories have been generally gloomy. Significant increases in unemployment rates and underemployment rates are perhaps not to the extent that the federal Treasury was originally predicting at the start of the global pandemic here in Australia, which was in around about March.

Nevertheless, for those unemployed or underemployed there are still very significant increases in the numbers of officially recorded unemployed, bearing in mind of course that those numbers are masked somewhat by the use of the JobKeeper allowance, where people in any other circumstance would clearly be unemployed were it not for the availability of the JobKeeper allowance.

Clearly, in terms of potential slivers of light in the gloomy outlook, the easing of restrictions in South Australia in particular and in some of the other jurisdictions is cause for some degree of optimism. I do refer members to the most recent labour force figures that have been released under the Single Touch Payroll information. These were figures for the week ending 13 June 2020. These figures are a month more recent than the unemployment figures for May.

The unemployment figures for May generally refer to a period ending in and around about the middle of May and these Single Touch Payroll figures are for the week ending 13 June, so the second week of June. These Single Touch Payroll figures cover about 80 to 85 per cent of total employment in South Australia. The cautionary note is that they are in the original terms, so they are not seasonally adjusted, so members need to be aware of that.

I think the cause for a little degree of optimism is that the total value of employee wages paid in South Australia rose by 1.1 per cent in the week ending 13 June compared to the week ending 6 June, the week earlier. Nationally, the figure was only 20 per cent of that. It was a 0.2 per cent rise in employee wages paid in that week in Australia. What those figures are indicating is, albeit with the gloomy outlook in terms of unemployment, the total number of hours being worked by South Australian workers and the total value of the employee wages being paid for South Australian workers is rising, in the most recent figures, at a greater rate than the national figures.

The fact that these figures have been reflected for about a month now, that is it is not just this particular week that we have seen reasonably consistently total value of employee wages figures in South Australia rising at a greater rate than the national figure, is a cause for some optimism.

The other aspect, pleasingly, is that it was the under 20s who experienced the highest growth in employee wages. They actually rose by 2.0 per cent in that particular week. That may well be consistent with the view that many young people with part-time or casual work might have increased their hours and therefore their value of employee wages during that particular period was rising at a greater level or a higher level than for other states and territories.

Finally, looking at the employee job numbers for the week of 13 June, again, this is only one week's figures but it does show that the total number of employee jobs in South Australia rose 0.4 per cent, whereas nationally that particular measure was unchanged. Whilst acknowledging the generally gloomy nature of the labour force and unemployment figures in the nation and in South Australia, we are hopeful that those glimmers of light in relation to the value of employee wages under the Single Touch Payroll figures report of 13 June might continue to be reflected over the coming weeks as South Australia continues to lead the way in terms of its response to the health crisis, but increasingly, in terms of easing restrictions, is giving the capacity for employers and the labour force figures to improve, we hope, at the same rate.

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