When the recession first hit and unemployment soared around Australia, the ACT defied the nationwide job trend, recording a slight decrease in the jobless rate.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a drop in the ACT’s unemployment rate of just 0.1 points to 4.1 per cent in May. This compared to a national unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent, helped by the resilience of Australia’s public service .
“It's definitely made me realise the importance of the APS… I think everyone really stepped up and did their absolute best.” “Canberra has been more resilient, and I think that's down to the fact that around about 40 per cent of the workforce is in the public service,” he said. He said the data didn’t capture underemployment and people who have left the labour market altogether and more Canberrans had actually lost full-time employment in recent months.
“People working in Services Australia and Centrelink have done an extraordinary job helping the millions of unemployed Australians and Tax Office staff have helped small businesses keep their doors afloat and apply JobKeeper.” New Zealanders in Australia are among those without work but many don't qualify for support
“Public sector workers are absolutely stretched at this point; people working in Services Australia and Centrelink are working six, seven days a week to get the job done.”
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