South Australia’s June unemployment rate jumped to 7.4 per cent – the highest since December 2001, latest figures show.
The number of people out of work has moved from 59,000 to 64,500 as jobs dry up in the state’s struggling economy.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for June was up from 6.9 per cent the previous month.
Australia’s unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 6.0 per cent, today’s Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show.
The seasonally adjusted labour-force participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 64.7 per cent in June 2014.
The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 15,900 to 11,578,200 in June 2014 (seasonally adjusted). The increase in total employment was due to increased female employment (both full-time and part-time) and increased male part-time employment, offset by a fall in male full-time employment. Part-time employment increased by 19,700 people to 3,515,700 and full-time employment decreased by 3800 people to 8,062,500.
The ABS monthly seasonally adjusted aggregate-hours-worked series increased in June 2014, up 15.1 million hours (0.9 per cent) to 1,629.1 million hours.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed increased by 20,300 to 741,700 in June 2014, the ABS reported.
Weaker consumer confidence following the federal budget, which outlined a raft of spending cuts and tax hikes, was weighing on business hiring intentions, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said.
“The May budget was a blow to confidence and spending. Consumer confidence, particularly, took a bit of a hit. So, that’s acting as a constraint,” Dr Oliver said.
“Businesses which were thinking of hiring might have put some of those plans on hold for the time being.
“That’s all occurring at a time when the economy is adjusting from mining-investment-driven growth to more broad-based growth.”
JP Morgan chief economist Stephen Walters said weak consumer spending and the high Australian dollar were making businesses reluctant to hire.
“Firms are just a little reluctant to make big decisions on things like taking on new staff and actually putting in new plant equipment or expanding,” Mr Walters said.
