New data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows Western Australia is beginning to see an increase in jobs for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ABS Labour Force report for June showed an increase of 22,000 jobs in Western Australia – the second highest monthly increase for jobs on record and the highest since March 1993.
Encouragingly, after being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, women accounted for four out of five of those gaining employment in June 2020, up a record 17,700.
Due to the survey timeframes, the positive effects of the easing of restrictions in WA will take time to be fully reflected in the data.
This report was prepared using survey information between May 31, 2020 to June 13, 2020, one week into Phase 3 easing of restrictions and before Phase 4 (June 27 2020) came into effect.
Phase 3 allowed between 100 and 300 patrons in restaurants and bars; the reopening of gyms, cinemas, theatres and beauty salons; as well as the removal of the remaining regional borders.
In line with expectations, the report shows contradictory results with both employment and unemployment increasing.
The rise in unemployment is underpinned by the obligation to look for work to receive JobSeeker resuming during the survey period (June 9 2020), which means these people are now captured in the ABS data, where they had not been previously.
Other positive results from today’s report include the underemployment rate for WA falling for the second consecutive month to 10.8 per cent in June 2020, making WA the second lowest underemployment rate of the States.
Young people have been some of the hardest hit during this pandemic, and the data has shown some positive movement with the youth unemployment rate falling by one per cent to 15.2 per cent (now the third lowest in the country) and the number of youth employed rising strongly up 5.5 per cent.
Job vacancies in Western Australia, a leading indicator of employment, have rebounded, with daily SEEK data showing that job advertisements are almost back to pre-COVID levels.
Source: WA Government