Aged care contributes to employment growth in 2010
A surprise jump in employment of 55,000 has made 2010 the biggest year of full-time job creation in history, with one month left to go.
The Age reports that aged care employment growth, along with education and health, has been larger than gains in the mining industry and says that this suggests that ” ..the jobs boom is about more than mining”.
The November surge means a record 312,000 full-time jobs have been created already this year, pushing the number of Australians in full-time work above eight million. Job creation has not only turned full time, with 84% of the jobs created this year full hours, but also male, with 60% of the jobs going to men.
The male unemployment rate is now 4.9%, the female rate 5.6% and the national rate 5.2%.
Western Australia and New South Wales (NSW) lead the nation with below average unemployment rates of 4.5% and 5.1%. Victoria sits with Queensland well above the average at 5.5%, having created far fewer jobs than NSW this year, losing its title of the job-creation state.
Nationwide, employment is growing at an annual rate of 3.7%, double the rate of population growth and way above the 2.5% forecast for this financial year in the November budget update.
“This is simply a stunning figure,” Treasurer Wayne Swan said.
“We have produced record job creation during a very difficult period.”
Full-time employment passed 8 million for the first time in November as total employment passed 11.4 million. A record 66% of Australians either worked or made themselves available for work.
