Dramatic drop in youth unemployment rate recorded

12/10/95

Western Australia's youth unemployment rate dropped dramatically last month to 15.7 per cent - a full 10 percentage points below the national average.

The State's youth unemployment rate dropped almost two percentage points reflecting an extra 1,300 jobs for teenagers, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released today.

"Western Australia is leading the nation in finding solutions to youth unemployment and has consistently recorded figures markedly lower than the national average," Employment and Training Minister Norman Moore said.

He said the State's youth unemployment was 27 per cent lower than the highest national figure recorded in the ACT of 42.6 per cent.

The Western Australian labour force participation rate had increased to 66.4 per cent - the highest of all States and well above the national average of 63.7 per cent.

"Full-time employment has also grown over the month by 2,800 jobs and by 25,600 over the year which reflected a healthy annual growth rate of 4.3 per cent in full-time jobs," Mr Moore said.

The jump in the participation rate combined with a decrease in part-time employment had contributed to the point seven (0.7) of a percentage point increase in the unemployment rate to 7.6 per cent from 6.9 per cent last month.

"Despite the increase, WA has again recorded the lowest unemployment rate in Australia and remains almost a full percentage point below the national average," Mr Moore said.

"New South Wales was the only mainland State that recorded a drop in unemployment to become equal with WA.  Nationally, unemployment rose to 8.5 per cent from

8.3 per cent.

"WA now has 827,000 persons in employment compared with 797,500 for the same period last year - a 3.7 per cent increase."

Media contact:  Anabel Gomez 321 1444 or 222 9595