MORE JOBS FOR MATURE AGE WORKERS – UP 5.1% IN PAST YEAR
Philip Ruddock MP, Federal Member for Berowra stated that latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal that employment for mature age people (those aged 45 and over) increased significantly, (up by 174,600 or 5.1 per cent) over the year to May 2005.
The Howard Government has now created 1,117,300 jobs for mature aged people since coming to office, compared with just 528,100 jobs during Labor’s last seven years in office.
“Moreover, the participation rate for mature age people aged 45-64 has risen significantly, up from 65.3 per cent in March 1996 to 70.1 per cent in May 2005,” Mr Ruddock said.
The mature age unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points in May 2005 to 3.0 per cent, down significantly from the 6.2 per cent figure inherited by this Government in March 1996 and well below the peak of 8.0 per cent recorded in February 1993 under the previous Labor Government.
Despite the clear improvement in outcomes for mature age people, the Government is not resting on its laurels when it comes to older job seekers.
In the most recent Budget, the Government allocated $50 million over four years for the ‘Welfare to Work Employer Demand Strategy’, in order to increase workforce participation in key industry sectors for disadvantaged groups, including mature age people.
“This strategy will complement other recently announced initiatives including the new Employment Preparation Service within Job Network, which will provide tailored services to mature age people to help raise self-esteem, assist with their understanding of the modern labour market, provide basic IT skills or short vocational courses and employability assessments.”
“These programmes are being introduced on top of a comprehensive package already available under the Mature Age Employment and Workplace Strategy which is also working to overcome negative attitudes to mature age employment, raise awareness of the changing demographic environment and broker solutions to skill shortages in key sectors of the economy,” Mr Ruddock said.