09 February, 2015 | ACTU Media Release
The Coalition Government needs to change its economic strategy – not just its leader.
New economic calculations in the ACTU 2015-16 federal budget submission shows there are more than five unemployed Australians for every job vacancy.
ACTU president Ged Kearney said regardless of who is Prime Minister, the Coalition Government must tackle Australia’s rising unemployment rate in this year’s budget.
“Over 750,000 Australians are ready and able to start work but can’t find a job,” Ms Kearney said.
“Unemployment is higher than 6 per cent and forecast to increase over the next two years – reversing this trend must be the first priority for the 2015-2016 budget.”
The ACTU submission shows that Australia will have the 17th highest unemployment rate in the OECD by 2016 – higher than New Zealand, Canada and the United States according to the government’s Mid-year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) forecast.
“In 2013 our unemployment rate was lower than all of these countries and most other OECD nations,” said Ms Kearney.
“The government must support income and wages growth and invest in jobs.
“With low interest rates and low public debt, the Government should be investing more, promoting growth and creating jobs – not imposing the sort of austerity measures we saw in last year’s budget.
“The Coalition Government must take clear and decisive action in this year’s budget to reduce unemployment and invest in our economic future.”
The ACTU budget submission calls for the Federal Government to:
The Coalition Government needs to change its economic strategy – not just its leader.
New economic calculations in the ACTU 2015-16 federal budget submission shows there are more than five unemployed Australians for every job vacancy.
ACTU president Ged Kearney said regardless of who is Prime Minister, the Coalition Government must tackle Australia’s rising unemployment rate in this year’s budget.
“Over 750,000 Australians are ready and able to start work but can’t find a job,” Ms Kearney said.
“Unemployment is higher than 6 per cent and forecast to increase over the next two years – reversing this trend must be the first priority for the 2015-2016 budget.”
The ACTU submission shows that Australia will have the 17th highest unemployment rate in the OECD by 2016 – higher than New Zealand, Canada and the United States according to the government’s Mid-year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) forecast.
“In 2013 our unemployment rate was lower than all of these countries and most other OECD nations,” said Ms Kearney.
“The government must support income and wages growth and invest in jobs.
“With low interest rates and low public debt, the Government should be investing more, promoting growth and creating jobs – not imposing the sort of austerity measures we saw in last year’s budget.
“The Coalition Government must take clear and decisive action in this year’s budget to reduce unemployment and invest in our economic future.”
The ACTU budget submission calls for the Federal Government to:
- Stop further cuts to Commonwealth employment
- Reverse cuts to Australia’s national innovation system
- Increase investment in skills and vocational education
- Abandon its approach to reducing government debt by imposing unfair and disproportionate costs on those who can least afford it
No comments:
Post a Comment