E&OE...
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The most heart warming benefit to come from the strong jobs market we now have is the way it has reduced the number of long term unemployed, that's people out of work for 12 months or more.
Between January 2006 and January 2007, the level of long term unemployed in Australia fell by a staggering 24.7 per cent. It's now at its lowest point since such numbers began to be measured 21 years ago.
This dramatically illustrates how the buoyant labour market is giving new hope and fresh opportunity for those in the community who in the past have found it the hardest to get a job.
Australia's unemployment rate is now at a 32 year low. At 4.5 per cent in 2007 compared with a figure with eight in front of it 11 years ago when my government was elected.
For almost 30 years Australia experienced the depressing situation of too many workers chasing too few jobs. Now the position is almost the exact reverse, of too few workers available for many of the jobs in our community.
To have any meaning at all, good economic management must have a human dividend. No human dividend could be greater than the chance of a job.
[Ends]
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.42Mb - 93secs)