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The Dept of Social Services today released the latest JobSeeker data for May. It shows the total of those claiming JobSeeker and Youth Allowance (other) has increased by another 21.8% since April with now 1,635,286 people claiming the benefits. This is up from 442,500 claiming the old Newstart and Youth Allowance (other) back in February of this year*.
In Queensland the increase is somewhat less at 19.7% m/m and the total claiming now sits at 379,687 (up from 108,471 in February*).
The original data, amalgamated from the data at the SA2 level, shows Greater Brisbane at 169,221, +22.4% m/m and up from 43,563 in February*. In the Rest of Queensland the claims are now 210,408, +17.6% m/m and up from 64,804 in February*.
At the local level the Cairns SA4 sees claims reach 26,035 which is up 12.7% m/m and up from 8,397 in February*. Townsville now sits at 18,477,+14.7% m/m and up from 6,979 in February*.
While acknowledging that Trend estimates at a time of such large original shifts are problematic and need to be treated with caution, the full Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional JobSeeker Trend data set is available for download below. Please fell free to use this data but kindly acknowledge Conus/CBC Staff Selection when you do so.
Conus/CBC Staff Selection Regional JobSeeker Trend QLD – May 2020
*Important note.
Prior to March 2020 ‘jobseekers’ were defined as a person on Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance (other) who would usually be engaged in job search. After March the requirement for job search was removed and all JobSeeker (previously Newstart) and Youth Allowance (other) recipients were classified as ‘jobseekers’. No distinction any longer exists between jobseeker and non-jobseeker. However, as at the February data, ‘jobseekers’ accounted for a little less than 53% of total Newstart and Youth Allowance (other) recipients. Therefore, when comparing data post-March 2020 with that prior to the changes we need to add back in the 47% of recipients who, prior to March, were not being counted as ‘jobseekers’ but now are. At the national level that equated to approx. 400k, in Queensland it was 97k, in Greater Brisbane 39k, in Rest of QLD 57.5k, in Cairns 7.5k and in Townsville 6k.
We are proud to have CBC Staff Selection as supporters of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend Employment and Jobseeker data series