E&OE...
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Good Morning,
Yesterday's unemployment figures were a great result for families, jobseekers, business and the economy as a whole.
Unemployment has fallen to 4.5 per cent - that's a 32 year low - and that's the greatest human dividend of all delivered by 10 years of very strong and effective economic management.
In the 12 months since the introduction of the Government's WorkChoices workplace reforms more than 276,000 new jobs have been created. Yet Labor and the unions predicted mass sackings and wholesale job cuts.
It is now clear that after a year of the workplace reforms it is reasonable to assert that one of the contributions to this spectacular growth in employment has been the removal of the unfair dismissal provisions under the WorkChoices legislation.
There is little doubt that there is a greater incentive for small business to take on new staff now that the threat of unfair dismissal action has been removed.
Another often unremarked feature of the employment market since WorkChoices has been the increase in full-time work. 96 per cent of the new jobs created have been full-time compared with 61 and 56 per cent in the previous two years.
The true value of getting the economy right is the human dividend it produces and the biggest dividend of all has been the huge fall in unemployment.
That's an outcome we can call be proud of.
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.58Mb - 103secs)