Jobs, rust buckets and promises
Governments of all persuasions are adept at spinning a jobs figure that shows how good they have been at “creating jobs”.
Yesterday’s launch of the Weatherill Government’s “Jobs and Skills” policy was no different.
“Our vision; to create more jobs, prioritise training for the unemployed and support vulnerable workers as the State’s economy changes and grows,” the policy brochure said.
In a “Message from Jay”, the Premier boasted that today, “we have around 120,000 more jobs than in 2002”.
That historical point refers to the time when Labor won government.
It’s reinforced by a highlighted point on page eight that “there are currently 810,700 South Australians in jobs, up from 691,200 in 2002”.
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It’s worth going the Australian Bureau of Satistics website to view the trend employment estimates that have been used to draw these figures.
Yes, job numbers are up.
But as a percentage of population? Hardly.
Full-time employment is actually down per capita and part-time work is up on the same comparison.
If the percentage of people in full-time work had held its ground in the last 11 years, we would have 534,000 in those ranks, not the 532,000 in the latest stats.
That leaves us back at the same per capita level as 2002 – a time referred to by former Premier Mike Rann as when we were a “rust-bucket” state.
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“No one would dare today to describe SA as a rust-bucket state as they did nine and a half years ago,” Rann said in his farewell interviews two years ago.
By highlighting today’s gross part-time and full-time jobs total, the policy document also lends itself to another comparison – what the numbers were when Jay Weatherill tapped Rann on the shoulder to become Premier.
In August 2011 there were 820,200 South Australians in work.
Two years later, as the policy brochure shows, this number has dropped to 810,700.
If you want to know what unemployment really means, talk to the 9,500 that have dropped off.
Weatherill, nonetheless, has outlined a plan he said will help workers win jobs in growing and emerging
industries.
“Today the Government is launching a series of initiatives designed to give people confidence that they can win jobs in growing and emerging industries.
“There has been a significant take-up of free and subsidised training courses, so we know there are thousands of South Australians who are ready and
willing to undertake training to get the skills they need to get jobs.”
The Jobs and Skills Policy included a Local Government stimulus program, extensions of current programs such as Skills for Jobs in Regions and Building Family Opportunities.
It also moved to deal with recent fallout from the awarding of government supply contracts to interstate providers by “exploring the expansion of Government procurement policy”.
“These programs are good for workers because they give them confidence and certainty and they are good for industry because they can invest with confidence, knowing that the skills they need will be available here,” Weatherill said.
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