RECORD LOW UNEMPLOYMENT IN 2023

Under the Albanese Labor Government unemployment had a ‘3’ in front of it every single month of 2023, with 381,000 new jobs created in the year.

This is the first time in the history of the ABS monthly employment figures where every unemployment figure for the year came in below 4 per cent.

Today’s ABS Labour Force Figures show the unemployment rate remains at historic lows – coming in at 3.9 per cent.

While the figures do show a softening in employment, this wasn’t unexpected given extremely strong consecutive monthly increases in October and November.

The figures show employment in December was still 51,700 higher than it was in September last year – in line with market expectations.

This Government has created more jobs than any other first term government on record, and we’re just over halfway through the term. 

We understand Australians are doing it tough and our economy is slowing – that’s why we are rolling out tens of billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief, fixing the budget, and making welcome and encouraging progress in the fight against inflation.

Getting wages moving again is crucial in helping Australians deal with the cost of living.

That’s why the Government passed its Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation – to get wages moving again and improve conditions for workers.

That’s why we passed our Closing Loopholes legislation – to stop the underpayment of workers and improve safety in workplaces.

Wages are now moving again – with the latest data showing wages growing at 4 per cent, and two consecutive quarters of real wage increases.

This is the highest wage growth since 2009 and the highest ever quarterly growth in the history of the Wage Price Index.

Peter Dutton and the Coalition spent a decade in government deliberately keeping wages low.

They might be in Opposition now, but they’re still committed to keeping wages low.

It’s why they’ve refused to support every measure this Government has taken on wages – including voting 36 times against legislation to get wages moving.

ENDS