"The youth unemployment rate, for 15-24-year-olds, jumped a further 2 percentage points over the month to be sitting at 16.1 per cent.The Prime Minister said getting those young people back into work was one of the Government's key priorities. "The unemployment queues are longer than they need to be because the Morrison Government has bungled the JobKeeper program. "While attributing the recession entirely to the pandemic, Mr Morrison acknowledged that a full recovery would not be immediate, even as restrictions were reduced.
"The restrictions are just being lifted now. "So my whole working life right now is completely unknown. "However, Labor's Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers accused the Government of contributing to an unemployment rate that would be far higher if 623,000 people had not simply given up looking for work over the past two months. "Ms Lauren works across fashion, advertising, corporate shoots, weddings and private clients.While she has had a few clients return, Ms Lauren said she has only a "handful of bookings" over the coming three months, meaning she will continue to rely on JobKeeper to stay afloat. "Instead we think many people who lost their jobs in April were counted as employed in April but were not considered employed in May. How long will it take to get my results back?Millions of Aussies have been told to isolate. But there are early signs we're already be emerging from the worst of the downturn.Both job ads data and more up-to-date ABS payroll figures appear to show job losses bottoming out.Figures from Seek show job ads surged 39.7 per cent in May compared to April, although they are still down more than 50 per cent on the same time last year.The ABS payroll figures, compiled from Tax Office data, also show that some jobs have come back since a low point in the week of April 18.At that point, 8.9 per cent of jobs on payroll had gone since coronavirus shut-downs ramped up in mid-March but the latest figures up to the end of May, released this week, showed that decline had lessened to 7.5 per cent. "So someone like myself is really dependent on JobKeeper at the moment. More than 1.5 million Australians are on JobSeeker. "Capital Economics analyst Marcel Theliant agreed "it wasn't all doom and gloom". "In other words, the bulk of the job losses and deterioration in the labour market took place in April, but some of it being accounted for in May. After crashing 6 … "The number of employees who worked fewer hours or no hours at all fell from 1.8 million to 1.55 million, with those working zero hours halving to 360,000. "Mr Chalmers said he was also disturbed to read reports that the Government is considering winding up JobKeeper earlier than its current September cut-off date.There's an economic consensus that the Government should borrow and spend at least part of the $60 billion JobKeeper shortfall to prevent a double-dip recession later this year. "If I can find something else that will allow me to work from home, that would be great," she said. And that is we must get Australians back into work. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew TaylorCommSec chief economist Craig James had anticipated unemployment would rise to 7.8 per cent.“But we know that there is a long way to go, especially incorporation of the effects of both stage four and stage three lockdown restrictions in Victoria.”CommSec warned further border restrictions would constrain economic recovery, with Commonwealth Bank’s economic arm currently forecasting a 9 per cent peak in unemployment.“The quicker that the jobless rate peaks and starts falling, the less damage and scarring will be done to the longer-term health of the economy,” Mr James said.The nation’s official jobless rate is expected to peak about 9.25 per cent in the December quarter, and remain about 8.75 per cent in 2020-21, according to Treasury forecasts.Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the July labour force figures showed that when the health crisis was under control and restrictions on the economy were eased, jobs returned.Senator Cash said the return of 114,000 jobs highlighted the reliance on small and family businesses across Australia.“What we have seen for the month of July is a very, very strong return of women to the workforce … almost 60,000,” she said.“But also an increase in the number of youth participating in the workforce, around 55,000.”Senator Cash said the government was not blind to the “billions and billions of dollars” the stage four lockdown in Melbourne was having on the Australian economy.“Every job loss as a result of COVID-19 is devastating, and that is why the Morrison Government has put in place a suite of measures to help employers and employees to get through this crisis.”But Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers has again put the pressure on the government to announce job-creating measures before the Budget on October 6.“Even numbers this confronting don’t tell the full story,” Mr Chalmers said.“Every day of delay, every day without a jobs plan, means too many Australians are out of work.”Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said even with a national wage subsidy scheme, more than a million people were now looking for work.“We know that the real rate of unemployment is much higher,” she said.“These numbers are from before the second lockdown in Victoria, which has stood down hundreds of thousands of workers.“The million Australians now out of a job, and the millions more who are either reliant on JobKeeper or worried about their future, need leadership from this Government.
"As retail doors open again, as food courts are open again, as shopping centres are fuller again, we hope to see more of those young people back into work.