Territory Stories

Budget Paper No.6 1997/98 Northern Territory Economy

Details:

Title

Budget Paper No.6 1997/98 Northern Territory Economy

Other title

Tabled Paper 3223

Collection

Tabled Papers for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; Tabled papers; ParliamentNT; Tabled Papers

Date

1997-04-30

Notes

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.

Language

English

Subject

Tabled papers

File type

application/pdf

Use

Copyright

Copyright owner

See publication

License

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/289257

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/404114

Page content

Consistent with the strong growth in the Territorys labour market, skilled job vacancies increased 5.5% during 1996. Nationally, skilled job vacancies decreased 11.3% over the same period. In 1996, Accommodation, Recreation, Personal and Other Services accounted for over one fifth of the Territorys total employment due to the rapid growth of the service industries in recent years. Mining, and Public Administration and Defence continue to account for proportionately more people employed in the Territory than nationally, while manufacturing accounts for a significantly smaller proportion of Territory employment. Unemployment The Territorys unemployment rate for 1996-97 decreased significantly from the previous fiscal year to 5.5%, while the national unemployment rate rose slightly from 8.5% to 8.7% over the same period. The Territory continues to have the lowest unemployment rate of any jurisdiction and well below the national average. For the twelve months to February 1997, the unemployment rate in the Territory averaged 5.7% for males and 6.2% for females. Nationally, the unemployment rates for males and females were 8.8% and 8.4% respectively. This is the first time since 1991 that the Territory has recorded a lower average unemployment rate for males than females. This was due in part to a decline in the male participation rate and an increase in the female participation rate during this period. Labour Force In 1996-97, the Territory labour force increased 0.8% to 88 200 persons after a marginal decline of 0.2% in 1995-96. Nationally, the labour force is estimated to have increased by 1.5% after an increase of 2.0% the previous year. The size of the labour force at the national level has been increasing very rapidly each year since 1993-94 after a period of slow growth during the recession. However, the rate of growth is slowing towards a more sustainable level. Unemployment Rates (annual average) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 1990-91 1992-93 1994-95 1996-97* Northern Territory Australia % Source: ABS Cat. No. 6202.0 * NT Treasury estimate Figure 5.3 Labour Market 29