E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
BRISBANE
THURSDAY, 15 APRIL 2021

SUBJECTS: Jobs numbers and unemployment; Morrison’s bungled vaccine rollout and the economic recovery.

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: We welcome today's jobs numbers, they’re a tribute to everything that Australians have done together to limit the spread of this virus. We want to see more jobs created. We want to see an improvement in the unemployment rate. We want those new jobs to be secure, well paid jobs with fair conditions. But we need a bit of perspective on these numbers, which have been released today. 21,000 full-time jobs were lost in March. There are still almost 2 million Australians who can't find a job or enough hours to support their loved ones. Millions more are struggling to get by on stagnant wages, which are expected to get worse.

There's a lot of uncertainty in the economy. We want the recovery to be strong, broad and inclusive. We want to see those jobs created. But we need to recognise that there's a lot of uncertainty created by the government's JobKeeper cuts, and by their vaccines debacle. It remains to be seen what the impact of the vaccines debacle and the JobKeeper cuts will be on the jobs market. These numbers today were put together before the JobKeeper cuts and the vaccines debacle.

It's too early for the government to be patting itself on the back before we know what the impact of those JobKeeper cuts and the abandonment of the government’s vaccination target will mean for the jobs market. We don't want Scott Morrison's failures on jabs to cost jobs. We don't want Josh Frydenberg’s JobKeeper cuts to leave people in the lurch and leave them behind.

It's too early to judge what the impact of those Morrison government actions will be on the labour market. But what we do know is this: 21,000 jobs full-time jobs were lost in March, almost 2 million Australians can't find a job or the hours that they need and millions more are struggling on stagnant wages.

It's far too early for the government to be patting itself on the back. Credit for this modest improvement in the unemployment rate belongs to the Australian people themselves. They've done so much to limit the spread of the virus. We don't want to see Scott Morrison's vaccines debacle or his JobKeeper cuts squander the opportunities and the momentum that has been generated by the Australian people as they do the right thing to limit the spread of the virus as this welcome and expected recovery in the economy and in the labour market continues.

ENDS