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Unemployment rate is the
percentage of unemployed workers. It is a major
indicator of the soundness of the overall labor
market.
Usually, the standard practice is that
unemployment rate in a month is released after
several weeks.
The figure brings about significant
impact to the market as employment is very much
important to a country’s overall economy.
Higher unemployment means
there will be less national income because the
workforce will in turn lower consumption in reaction
to joblessness. The Australian unemployment rate is
among the lowest in the world. Surely, the country
is also exposed to and affected by the global
financial crisis.
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Some jobs have been shed since the
onset of the financial crunch. But analysts assert
that the level of unemployment in Australia is not
as huge as the levels in the United States, the
United Kingdom, and in several other developed
countries. |
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The Australian government is surely
doing its best to counter the rising trend in unemployment
or at least provide assistance to jobless workers until they
find new employment.
As mentioned, the Australian government has been conducting
several measures to counter unemployment. In April 2009,
just after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came from a G20 meeting
in London, he immediately went into a meeting with the
largest four national lenders, namely, the Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, Australia and New
Zealand Banking Group Ltd, and National Australia Bank.
It was proposed that the banks should provide
unemployed workers a year of free mortgage payments.
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The lenders agreed to the government’s request, saying such
people will only be asked to resume mortgage payments when
they finally get employed again. The national government said the initiative
is aimed at alleviating the jobless workers’ fear and
anxiety over losing jobs and continuing mortgage
responsibilities. The banks also said they would extend
mortgage contract periods to reduce sizes of loan payments
by affected individuals. For car loans, lenders will
implement waived fees and interest-only repayments. It is
expected that Australia unemployment rate will continue to
rise until 2010.
The government is honest in
admitting that the country’s economy is not fully spared
from the ongoing global financial turmoil. But the
government commits to exploring many other measures to help
Australians cope up with the times. The workforce can rest
assured that although some companies may fold up and shed
several jobs, there will still be moral and financial
support coming from the local government. State governments
also commit to subsidize and provide financial assistance to
laid-off workers.
The banking industry also expresses support to efforts in
helping unemployed workers. This way, the workforce could
rest assured that the Australian unemployment rate, although
slightly rising along with rates in other countries, will
still be manageable and totally controlled.
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