More than 28,000 people returned to the workforce, with participation increasing to 65.9 per cent in November, seeing NSW’s unemployment remain at 6.5 per cent.
Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said almost 90 per cent of jobs that were lost at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in NSW have now been regained.
“This is a great sign as we enter our peak trading for businesses during the festive period,” Mr Ayres said.
“We’re seeing a strong rebound in full-time employment opportunities, supported by our $107 billion infrastructure pipeline which is set to create and support jobs in every corner of the state.
“The female participation rate is powering ahead with another increase, this time of 0.4 percentage points bringing it to a record high of 61 per cent.
“We are providing an additional boost through investing in targeted measures to help women return to work, including free training to support re-skilling and small business payroll changes to make it easier to create and support more jobs.”
“Earlier this month public health orders requiring employers to allow employees to work from home were repealed, which will see even more people returning to work in the CBD,” Mr Ayres said.
“We’re continuing to support Australia’s recovery efforts, with NSW having the third lowest unemployment rate of the states, with South Australia at 6.2 per cent, and Western Australia at 6.4 per cent.
“Employment in NSW now stands just 0.5 per cent lower than at the beginning of the year, which is encouraging following the challenges of COVID-19.”
Underemployment has fallen by 1.2 percentage points to 8.8 per cent and spare capacity in the labour market eased to 15.2 per cent.
