The Queensland government is patting itself on the back after the state posted the largest drop in unemployment across Australia ahead of this month's election, but the LNP's political rivals doubt they'll be able to keep it up.
A heartened Treasurer Tim Nicholls welcomed Thursday's jobs figures, in which Queensland's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 6.8 per cent in November to 6.1 per cent in December.
He noted that 80 per cent of the full-time jobs created nationally last month were created in Queensland, with more than 34,400 full-time positions.
"These jobs just don't happen by accident - they happen because of a government that is doing the right thing," Mr Nicholls said of the Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
That said, the Liberal National Party had a "clear plan" to address Queensland's unchanged trend unemployment, which was still too high at 6.6 per cent.
Mr Nicholls said a declining oil price and widespread drought were among the challenges that threatened to hamper Queensland's economic growth and job opportunities.
He conceded Premier Campbell Newman's vow to reduce unemployment to four per cent over two terms during the 2012 state election campaign remained a "stretch target".
While reaffirming the LNP's commitment to the ambitious goal, he said it would be "a real challenge" for any government to reach.
But the federal opposition was quick to criticise the LNP's self congratulation.
"In Queensland we've seen an unemployment rate with a six in front of it - this is way too high for such a successful state," employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said.
The spike in December's figures was just a short-term fluctuation and wouldn't be sustainable without a viable jobs plan, he said.
"The actual month-by-month figures always go up and down," he said.
"The only reason it probably fell is because we had large rises only a couple of months before."
About 164,000 Queenslanders were still out of work and the jobs figures were cause for concern, the state opposition said.
"Tim Nicholls refers to the trend measure as his preferred measure, except for when it suits him," Labor's Curtis Pitt said.
"Now, of course, he sees a good news story, he's trying to pretend to Queenslanders that somehow there's been massive job creation in December and things are on the up."
After Queensland, the state with the next biggest drop in unemployment was Victoria, down 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 per cent, while the national unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent in December thanks to a surprise surge in full-time jobs.
Share
