Australia a Leader in Employment Participation - Report
17 December 2012 at 9:44 am
Australia is a world leader in employment participation, according to a report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The Activating Jobseekers: How Australia Does It report reveals that the Federal Government’s efforts to increase workforce participation are helping to build and maintain a strong, stable workforce.
The report provides an overview and assessment of Australia’s policies to tackle welfare dependency and unemployment.
The report’s findings also show that Australia’s benefit-dependency rate is one of the lowest among those OECD countries that provide a broad entitlement to disability, unemployment and social assistance benefits.
Minister for Employment Participation, Kate Ellis, said that the report confirms that the government’s $10 billion investment into employment services is delivering returns for the Australian economy
“The Australian Government’s key priority is supporting jobs for Australians – since coming into government we have created more than 840,000 jobs despite the GFC and have an unemployment rate the envy of the developed world at 5.2 per cent,” Minister Ellis said.
“Our Job Services Australia has placed 1.4 million people in work since it commenced and 20,000 a year more than the previous incarnation under the Coalition”
Minister Ellis said that the Federal Government has focussed on increasing workforce participation, particularly for those groups that generally have lower than average participation rates, such as people with disability, seniors, women and Indigenous Australians.
