Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, my fellow senator from WA, Senator Cash. Can the minister please update the Senate on the state of the labour market following today's ABS labour force figures and how the Morrison government's 2021 budget is securing Australia's economic recovery?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brockman for the question. The labour force figures have been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today in relation to May 2021. What we have seen today is as follows: the unemployment rate has decreased to 5.1 per cent; the participation rate, colleagues, has actually increased to 66.2 per cent—so Australians are saying, 'I'm out there and I'm ready, willing and able to undertake work'; employment itself is now at a record high in Australia, at 13,125,100; the employment-to-population ratio has itself increased to 62.8 per cent; underemployment, which we often talk about in this chamber, has actually decreased to 7.4 per cent; and the monthly hours worked for May increased by 25 million hours.

What we saw in the release of the labour force statistics today was that employment in the month of May increased by 115,200. That exceeded all market expectations. There are now more than 13.1 million Australians in work. That is a record number of Australians in employment and, when you look at where we were 12 months ago, that is a good thing—that we can stand here 12 months later and say that we have a record number of Australians in employment. What it actually means is that the level of employment is now 130,300 above the pre-COVID level that was recorded in March 2020. In fact, it's now 987,200 or 8.1 per cent higher than the trough in the labour market recorded in May 2020. Pleasingly, in terms of full-time job creation, the majority of jobs created in May were full-time jobs.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brockman, a supplementary question.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's an amazing testament to Australian businesses and Australian workers, Minister. Can the minister outline how the government is continuing to support our labour market to recover from the once-in-a-century economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brockman, that is right. You are absolutely correct. It is a testament to all of the employers out there who are working with the government, looking at the government's policies, investing in the government's policies and creating more employment. As I was saying in answer to Senator Brockman's first question, in the month of May what we saw is that 97,500 of the jobs that were created were full-time jobs. That is a good thing, and it is all due to the employers out there taking on people, giving them those full-time jobs. In fact, in Australia now we have full-time employment at a record high—8,965,200 Australians. That is why as a government, and certainly in the budget that we recently brought down, we continue to put in place those policies that businesses in Australia can lever off to prosper, grow and, as we've seen today with the labour market figures for May, create more jobs for Australians.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brockman, a final supplementary question?

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact around the world, can the minister explain why Australians can continue to have confidence in the resilience of our labour market and our economic recovery?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, when you look at where we were 12 months ago, and then you look at where we are today, Treasury was modelling at the height of COVID-19 that unemployment could potentially go to 15 per cent. Two million Australians could have been out of work. In May 2021, what we saw was a drop in the unemployment rate to 5.1 per cent. We are seeing an increase in the participation rate. We are seeing an increase in the number of full-time jobs that have been created and, again, we are seeing employers working with the government, utilising the government's policies that we have put in place to ensure that they are prospering, growing and creating more jobs for Australians. But we always acknowledge that people are still doing it tough out there. There are businesses that are still doing it tough, and that is why we continue to put in place those policies—for example, the instant asset write-off. For those businesses that do have the ability to invest, we are saying to them: invest in your business, grow your business and create more jobs for Australians.