Today’s data on job vacancies from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is more confirmation that Tasmania’s economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data shows Tasmanian job vacancies grew by 50.4 per cent over the November 2020 quarter, which is the highest increase in the nation and double the growth seen nationally.
Importantly, this growth has been led by the private sector, with vacancies increasing 53.2 per cent in the November quarter – again making Tasmania the strongest State in the nation.
The ABS also confirmed an 11.6 per cent increase in engineering work completed in Tasmania in the September 2020 quarter, the highest increase in the nation.
Public sector engineering work led the results for the quarter, reaffirming the importance of our initial construction blitz in response to the pandemic, and our landmark $5 billion infrastructure program in the 2020-21 State Budget that will support 25,000 jobs.
These great results follow on from the December Sensis Business Index that found more Tasmanian businesses have recovered since COVID-19 than elsewhere, and it is Tasmanian businesses that are most confident in the country.
Since May, nearly three quarters of Tasmanians have returned to work, and as we enter 2021, we will continue to focus on growing our economy, creating jobs, and getting more Tasmanians back into work as we continue to rebuild a stronger Tasmania.