Fed: Longterm jobless figure rises first time in 8 months

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2000
Fed: Longterm jobless figure rises first time in 8 months

CANBERRA, April 13 AAP - The number of long-term unemployed people in Australia increased
in March for the first time in eight months.

The rise was almost entirely due to a huge climb in the number of women out of work
for between one year and two years.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures today revealed the number of people out
of work for a year or more rose by 4,700 to 183,300, seasonally adjusted.

The figures follow an increase in the overall unemployment rate by 0.2 per cent to
6.9 per cent last month.

The number of people out of a job for two years or more dropped by 4,600 to 112,600.

However, those out of work for between 12 months and two years climbed by just over 9,000.

The rise was due to an almost one-third increase in the rate of women jobless in that
category, up from 21,200 in February to 32,200 in March.

Meanwhile, new Centrelink figures out today showed more than 33,000 people dropped
off dole queues in March.

The number of jobseekers on the dole or Youth Allowance fell by 33,214 or 5.6 per cent
to 557,511, driven by a 4.8 per cent fall in long-term unemployed, down 17,561 to 345,062.

The number of short-term jobseekers also declined by 6.9 per cent, dropping 15,653 to 212,449.

The ACT had the biggest total jobless fall of 9 per cent, followed by South Australia
(7.1 per cent), Tasmania (6.6 per cent), Victoria (6.1 per cent), New South Wales (5.8
per cent), Western Australia (5.4 per cent), Queensland (4.2 per cent) and the Northern
Territory (2.1 per cent).

In trend terms, the total number of people on the dole fell 2.1 per cent or 13,002
from the previous month.

The Centrelink data cannot be directly compared to ABS figures due to different methodologies.

AAP dep/rft/mfh/jtb/br

KEYWORD: JOBS

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