Christmas jobs boom on the Gold Coast

Tens of thousands more families in Queensland are benefiting from jobs growth across the state in the last 12 months leading into Christmas.

Minister for Employment, Shannon Fentiman, said the latest ABS regional employment data for November shows that thousands more people are employed when compared to 12 months ago.

“Christmas in 2017 looks a lot brighter for families right across the state with Queensland seeing the strongest jobs growth in the country over the past 12 months and much of that jobs growth has been outside Brisbane,” Ms Fentiman said.

“Jobs growth in Logan-Beaudesert continues to lead the way, with more than 14,000 more people in work this year than at the same time last year.

“We also saw strong jobs growth in Townsville (8,700), Cairns (7,800), Toowoomba (5,400), Mackay (5,400), Ipswich (6,700) and on the Gold Coast (8,300) over the last 12 months.”

“The tourism industry and the 2018 Commonwealth Games have kept the Gold Coast unemployment rate steady or falling for the 12^th month in a row, now down to 4.6%, in contrast to 6% under the LNP.”

Ms Fentiman said more will be done to support employment opportunities for Queenslanders in 2018.

“We know there are a lot of families still doing it tough after the downturn in the resources sector and we will be ramping up our efforts to support employment and training opportunities for people in 2018.

“I am pleased that, from 1 January, the Government is offering payments of up to $20,000 for businesses to take on Mature Age Workers, through our Back to Work program and on Wednesday I announced that we will be bringing round two of Youth Boost forward.

Youth unemployment is down across Queensland with Cairns leading the way by halving their youth unemployment rate.

“This outstanding result can be attributed to vital programs like Youth Boost, where 1 in 5 Youth Boost payments went to Cairns,” Ms Fentiman said.

Importantly the gap between regional and South East Queensland unemployment rates narrowed significantly over the last year from 2.3 points in November 2016 to 1.4 points in November 2017.

“This is why we are partnering with businesses in the regions, to work with them to be able to grow and bridge the gap between our regions and cities.”

ENDS

Media Contact:           Inga Williams                                       0410 769 711