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Unemployment rate drop, average weekly earnings inch higher

The Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has welcomed a 0.1 per cent drop in the unemployment rate in July to 5.7 per cent.

Job adverts are seen in a weekend newpaper in Canberra, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015.   (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING
(AAP) Source: AAP

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Source: AAP



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The Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has welcomed a 0.1 per cent drop in the unemployment rate in July to 5.7 per cent.

 

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show employment increased by 26, 200 jobs.

A growth in part-time jobs accounted for the growth.

Senator Cash says part-time work is a good option for many people.

"I am pleased to see that employers are still putting up their hand and saying, we want to create jobs, we want to employ people, even if its on a part-time basis. As I said, so many people make the choice to work part time, students, those with caring responsibilities, thosse transitioning into retirement, those who are using part time work to showcase themselves to an employer, hopefully to get a full time job."

The federal Opposition's spokesperson on Employment, Brendan O'Connor says Australia has a problem creating full-time work.

He says the July figures show a fall in full-time jobs of more than 45,400.

"Too many Australians are unable to find sufficient work to make ends meet, we have the highest under-employment in our history. We have 1,067,000 Australians looking for more work, but cannot find it."

Average weekly earnings inch higher

Average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) for adult full-time workers rose 2.2 per cent over the year to May, according to estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The annual rise was barely half the 4.2 per cent average for the prior 20 years.

The figures confirmed an alternative measure of wages released on Wednesday, the wage price index, which remained at a record low annual growth rate of 2.1 per cent in the year to June.

The latest modest rise took average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) for adult full-time workers to $1,516.00.

AWOTE in May was $1,353.70 for women, while the same measure for men was 19 per cent higher at $1,613.50, the seasonally adjusted figures show.

Total earnings including overtime for full-time adult workers averaged $1575.90 - $1,371.30 for women and $1,696.70 for men, a difference of 24 per cent.

The gap was only partially explained by a variation in hours worked in full time jobs, which the bureau defines as 35 hours or more per week.

In May, female workers in full-time jobs clocked up just over 159 and a half hours while male full-time workers put in 9.7 per cent more, just over 175 hours.

 

 


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