CANBERRA, Jan 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australia’s labour market, bounced back from COVID-19 lockdowns, that affected more than half the population late in 2021, according to Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
A total of 485,000 jobs were added to the labour market between Sept – when New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) were in strict lockdowns – and Nov, according to recent official data.
As a result, the number of Australians who are employed is now 5.7 percent higher than prior to the pandemic.
Frydenberg used the data, to launch an attack on the Opposition Labour Party, in the lead-up to the 2022 election, accusing leader, Anthony Albanese, of trying to “sneak into government.”
“No one should be fooled by the small-target strategy of Albanese and Labour,” Frydenberg wrote in an op-ed for News Corp Australia, today.
With election due to be held by May, Frydenberg set unemployment as an important issue. “Unemployment is around its lowest level in 13 years, at 4.6 percent, compared with 5.7 percent when Labour left office,” he wrote.
“We are on the cusp of a historic opportunity to create one million jobs and drive unemployment sustainably into the low-4s, for only the second time in the past 50 years.”– NNN-AGENCIES
