Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that 76,000 jobs were added to the economy last month. That same report showed unemployment dropping to just 3.6 per cent, which is only slightly higher than the 48-year low of 3.4 per cent set by the Albanese government in October 2022. This comes alongside data from Treasury showing that 465,000 new jobs were created between May 2022 and May 2023. To put that in perspective, that's the strongest jobs growth of any first-year government on record. That comes on top of the first budget surplus in 15 years, from our May 2023 budget.

In the first year of this government, we've reminded Australians why Labor are the superior economic managers. Those opposite will wheel out the same talking points about 'jobs, jobs, jobs' and 'jobs and growth' without actually ever having delivered a surplus or without having delivered strong jobs growth, like we've seen in the first year of the Albanese government. Australians deserve better. Australians deserve a future with more jobs for more Australians, and these latest stats show just that.