ABS Job Vacancy data for August 2023 shows Tasmania is outperforming the nation compared to the same time last year, with an increase in job vacancies of 7.7 per cent compared to the -15.3 per cent national average.
According to the data, there were 6,800 job vacancies in August 2023, compared to 6,300 in August 2022. Whilst job vacancy data can be volatile, what this shows is that over the past 12 months, job vacancies have increased in Tasmania, and decreased elsewhere in the nation.
This comes off the back of jobs data which shows nearly 4,500 more Tasmanians are in work compared to the same time last year, and 54,000 more are in work compared to when the disastrous Labor-Green government was voted out in 2014. These numbers continue a two year period of the lowest long-term unemployment for our State since the ABS started collecting this data in 1978.
Over the last 12 months Tasmania has seen record low unemployment as well as record high job vacancies. Today's 6,800 job vacancies is almost three and a half times greater than the 2,000 vacancies when we were elected to government in March 2014, when the unemployment rate was almost double what it is today. Ten years ago there were people looking for jobs, today there are jobs looking for people.
Tasmania began our post-COVID economic recovery sooner than other states, and our current economic indicators are in line with Treasury projections which forecast a normalisation from a period of high growth.
This is compared to the state of Tasmania when we took government in 2014, when State Final Demand contracted for six out of seven quarters, between December 2011 and June 2013, there were 54,000 fewer jobs, Gross State Product was 22.7 per cent lower, Retail Trade was over 50 per cent lower and the state was performing worse under all metrics compared to today according to Commsec's State of the States report.
From the December quarter 2011 to the June quarter 2013, State Final Demand fell in six of the seven quarters. Overall, the economy contracted in 2012-13, with negative Gross State Product growth of 0.6 per cent, and was the only state to do so!
The year-average unemployment rate in 2012-13 was 7.2 per cent, and on a year average basis, employment fell by one per cent. Additionally, retail trade fell by 3.2 per cent in 2012-13, compared with the previous year.
While Labor reminisces of the bad old days when they were in government and unemployment was almost double what it is now, the Rockliff Liberal Government is focussed on delivering on its clear plan to build a strong economy and deliver jobs.
We will continue to do all we can to keep this momentum going.
The Rockliff Liberal Government's long-term plan has built a nation-leading economy that is in the corner of Tasmanian businesses while creating 54,000 new jobs.
