South Australia's strong economic and jobs recovery continues to gather speed, with latest ABS data showing SA leads the nation for its surging jobs rebound since the depths of the pandemic.
Total employee jobs in SA increased by a nation-leading 13.5 per cent since the COVID low point (April 18, 2020) – well above the national average of 10.7 per cent, according to the ABS Labour Force: Single Touch Payroll Data.
And SA outperforms every other state, except Western Australia, for the total value of employee wages paid since April 18 last year – rising 10.7 per cent, compared to 8.7 per cent nationally.
Treasurer Rob Lucas welcomed the latest figures which come just days after positive ABS Labour Force stats which showed the state's unemployment rate had dropped to 5.7 per cent. This is near the 5.5 per cent national rate and, pleasingly, means that SA no longer has the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
"While Labour Force figures do tend to bump around a bit, we've seen consistently strong results over several months now from the single touch payroll data, with SA either leading the nation – or being very close to it – in terms of our surging jobs recovery from the depths of the pandemic," said Mr Lucas.
"Together, these ABS stats show we are well and truly heading in the right direction under the Marshall Government's strong economic recovery plan.
"In the last 12 months alone, we've added 43,000 new jobs, with total employment in SA now at a record 864,200.
"But we know there's much more work to be done, which is why we are investing a record $4 billion in economic stimulus to turbo charge the state's ongoing economic and jobs rebound."
And in a further shot in the arm for the state, the value of SA's overseas goods exports in the year to April 2021 were up 15 per cent (year on year) to total $12.5 billion, according to preliminary ABS results.
This was the biggest increase of all states and territories, with Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory all recording falls.
