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The Dept of Social Services data for JobSeeker numbers in August, when seen through the lens of the Conus seasonally adjusted series, showed a small 0.9% m/m increase across Australia, although this still represents a 33.6% decline from a year earlier. Queensland was up 3.2% m/m and is now down 35.0% y/y while Cairns increased 4.7% m/m and is now down 31.8% y/y.
There is a clear disconnect with what we are seeing in JobSeeker data and the ABS unemployment numbers. Prior to COVID the two series were rarely more than about 150,00 apart (and often much closer than that) but since the distortions wrought by COVID, State and Federal support packages and changes to JobSeeker eligibility we see that difference ballooned out to almost 700,000 and has only partially returned to pre-COVID levels; the difference now sits at 435,000.
We are proud to have CBC Staff Selection as supporters of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend Employment and Jobseeker data series