Budget Paper 1994-95 No.6 Northern Territory Economy
Tabled Paper 2156
Tabled Papers for 6th Assembly 1990 - 1994; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
1994-05-12
Tabled by Barry Coulter
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00044
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/292876
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/398240
Labour Market At the national level, employment growth was not sufficient to outweigh an influx o f job seekers to the labour market. As the econom y streng thens it is to be expected that the size o f the labour force will increase as potential workers respond to improving economic conditions. L abour force p a rtic ip a tio n rates are typically higher in the Territory than elsewhere in Australia. This reflects a greater proportion o f working age persons in the Territory population and a relatively high proportion o f em ployment in the pu b lic sec to r, lead in g to a la rg e r proportion o f two income households. The average partic ipa tion rate in the Territory over the twelve months to March 1994 declined 2.8 percentage points (to 68.2%) in comparison with the average o f the previous year. Nationally, the average participation rate over the same period declined slightly to 62.7%. Participation rate by gender data reveals that the Territorys higher rate o f participation is primarily due to higher female involvement in the Territory labour market. The average participation rate in the Territory for females for the twelve months to March 1994 was 61.7%, a decline o f 1.8 percentage points from the previous year. For males, the average participation rate for the same period declined 3.8 percentage points to 74.3%. Nationally, the average female participation rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 52.0%, while the male participation rate declined 0.4 percentage points to 73.7%. Labour Market Outlook The national economy is now clearly emerging from recession with consequent growth in employment levels. Commonwealth Treasury is currently forecasting national employment growth o fup to 1.75% in 1993/94 rising to 2.75% in 1994/95. While employment growth is expected to accelerate in the short term, comparable growth in the national labour market is likely to impede a marked improvement in the national unemployment rate. Figure 3.5 Northern Territory Labour Force (annual average) 000 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 87/88 88/89 89/90 90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94* Source: ABS Cat. No. 6202.0 * NT Treasury estimate