The unemployment rate in Australia dropped by 0.2 per cent last month, with the Treasurer flagging an optimistic outlook for the country.
The rate dropped from 5.8 per cent to 5.6 per cent, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.
An additional 70,700 people have found work since February.
That number of people in work is also at a record high, higher than the previous record set in March last year.
In March 2020, the unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent before COVID-19 restrictions came into play, before lockdowns and before unemployment skyrocketed.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said more than 2000 new jobs were created every day since February this year.
“This is more than twice what the market was expecting and of those new jobs, around 80 per cent went to women and around half went to young people,” he said.
This was an emergency payment, initially for six months and what we did was taper it down, and introduce a two-tiered system – that was the right thing to do.
“Treasury’s advice to us was that JobKeeper had to come to an end because there were a number of characteristics with that program that would have a perverse impact across the economy.”
The latest figures from the ABS also revealed participation rate increased to 66.3 per cent from 66.1 per cent.
Mr Frydenberg said Australia’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was on the right track, but far from over.
