Page 2195 - Week 08 - Thursday, 10 September 1992
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LABOUR FORCE AND THE ECONOMY
Ministerial Statement
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to make a ministerial statement on the ACT labour force.
Leave granted.
MS FOLLETT: I thank members. Madam Speaker, a number of ACT economic indicators released over the past week show signs of improvement for our economy. Whilst these results should be treated with some caution, next week's budget will see the Government put in place appropriate initiatives to ensure that these positive trends are maintained.
Today's release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force survey for August shows some positive early signs of employment growth resuming in the ACT. In the last month employment has grown by 400, and 1,200 jobs have been created already in the ACT this financial year. Madam Speaker, it is important to note that job growth in the ACT is occurring at a faster rate than is occurring nationally. Unemployment for the ACT is still much lower than the national level of 10.6 per cent and lower than the level in most other States and Territories. Significantly, in the month of August the rate of unemployment in the ACT fell from 8.4 per cent to 7.8 per cent. While there is clearly no room for complacency, I would like to focus on two areas of activity which demonstrate the practical signs of recovery and improvement in business confidence.
I turn first to building and construction. Madam Speaker, it is important to note that the building and construction industry is currently performing well in Canberra, and the initiatives taken by my Government and the Commonwealth Government will see this continue. These initiatives include the accelerated capital works already announced, the establishment of the casino, major construction of offices announced in the Commonwealth budget for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Taxation Office, and major office refurbishments at Scarborough House. To assist the housing industry to become more efficient, the Government has removed the requirement for permits and approvals on minor building works. For the year ended March 1992, the latest period for which data is available, the total value of construction work was $870m - an increase of 5.5 per cent in real terms compared to a decrease of 11.3 per cent nationally.
My second example, Madam Speaker, is the tourism industry. Tourism is providing encouraging signs for the future prosperity of the ACT economy. Results from the 1991-92 Canberra visitors survey show the number of visitors to the ACT increasing by 15 per cent over the previous year to 1.3 million. This will provide substantially improved prospects for the industry and provide the economy with a major injection of expenditure. The target of 1.5 million visitors to the ACT per year by the year 1994, set by the ACT Tourism Commission last year, should be achieved if the current trend is maintained. In conjunction with an increase in visitor numbers, the accommodation sector of the ACT tourism industry has experienced an increase in room occupancy rates of four percentage
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