Federal election 2022
Fewer than 100,000 people across Sydney are out of work and looking for a job as the nation’s tight employment market increases pressure on businesses already anticipating further price rises to deal with growing inflation.
As new figures pointed to a lift in business spending on capital works, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics highlighted the strength of the jobs market, although it is yet to translate into high pay rises for staff.
There are fewer than 100,000 people across all of Sydney considered to be unemployed.Credit:Photo: Louise Kennerley
Across the Greater Sydney region, the bureau estimates there were 97,000 unemployed people in April, with almost 3 million holding down work. A year earlier, there were almost 180,000 people considered unemployed. It’s the lowest number of unemployed – considered those actively seeking a job – across Sydney since 2010, when there were 500,000 fewer people in the jobs market.
The city’s unemployment rate is now about 3.2 per cent, well down on the national rate of 3.9 per cent and 2.1 percentage points lower than in the same month last year.
The tight jobs market is mirrored in Perth where there were fewer than 36,000 people unemployed. That included just 16,600 unemployed women, the lowest number since the pre-global financial crisis mining boom in early 2008.
Across Melbourne, there were almost 129,000 unemployed people, with the jobless rate there at 4.5 per cent compared with 6 per cent a year earlier.
Employers are calling on the new federal government to find ways to bring more skilled workers into the country after a sharp drop in immigration through the COVID-19 pandemic. Job advertisements are at their highest levels on record in a further sign of how businesses are struggling to find staff.
Businesses are also facing inflation issues, with an ABS survey revealing almost 40 per cent expect to lift prices in the next three months.
Of those planning to increase prices, 92 per cent said it was due to higher costs of products and services while 78 per cent cited rising fuel or energy prices. Almost 40 per cent said higher staff costs were adding to price pressures.
Among businesses not planning to increase prices, 46 per cent said they had fixed price contracts while the same proportion said they were holding prices to retain customers.
KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said the survey confirmed that inflation concerns were becoming more widespread across the business community.
“Fuel costs and prices paid for goods and services those businesses use in producing their own final goods have placed the biggest cost burden on them – while staffing costs have also started to rise, adding to margin pressures,” he said.
“The challenge to the business community, however, relates more to the fact that some of these cost increases were unanticipated. This is further compounded by the fact for most of 2022 businesses have earned revenues below the levels they had planned to receive, suggesting business profitability for this year is being squeezed tighter than last year and what was expected.”
While businesses struggle with costs, they are also ramping up investment in plant and equipment.
While total capital spending edged down in the March quarter by 0.3 per cent, the ABS reported on Thursday that businesses expected to spend $130 billion in 2022-23. Three months ago, they were forecasting to spend $116.8 billion.
Commonwealth Bank senior economist Belinda Allen said the spending would eventually deliver benefits to the economy.
“This will lift the productive capacity of the economy and place downward pressure on inflation over time,” she said.
“In the near term, more business investment though can add to the inflation pulse and there is evidence of rising engineering and construction costs in the system.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Most Viewed in Politics
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article