Jobless drop sign of hope, ACOSS
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CANBERRA, Oct 8 AAP
October 08 2009, 1:32PM
A surprise drop in Australia's unemployment rate is a sign of hope for people without work, Australia's peak welfare advocacy group says.
The jobless rate for September fell to 5.7 per cent, from 5.8 per cent a month earlier, official data shows.
The result was much better than market forecasts of a 6 per cent jobless rate, and coincided with the creation of 40,600 jobs.
Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Clare Martin says the figures give hope to the unemployed.
"Given the global picture and severity of the financial crisis, it is a significant achievement that Australia has avoided higher levels of unemployment," she said in a statement.
Ms Martin, a former Labor chief minister of the Northern Territory, said the federal government should be congratulated on its stimulus policies to protect jobs but said the long-term unemployed needed more help.
"Almost 60 per cent of jobless people are on unemployment payments for over a year and suffer the demoralising effects of prolonged unemployment."
