Editorial August 19th 2022

Welcome to this weeks editorial, While most are too busy to delve deeper into what they read and hear there are still many among us who are astute enough to dig deeper in an attempt to understand the world around them. Superficially we have the fluff, the Click Bait headlines that often lead to a misspelt precis that fails to give any detail. An example is the head line “Unemployment falls from 3.5 per cent in June to 3.4 per cent in July. On the surface this sounds terrific. More people finding work. Productivity increasing and lives improving. It suggests that supply chains might be getting back on their feet and life might be returning to some degree of normality. But reading between the lines we learn that the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported an estimated 40,900 jobs were lost in July, the first fall in employment since October 2021

But wait—what is the actual Australian Bureau of Statistics definition of “employment”? “Employed – includes people who are in a paid job for one hour or more in a week. Unemployed – includes people who are not in a paid job, but who are actively looking for work”.

In Eurobodalla Shire, there were 15,382 residents employed in the year ending June 2021. What we know in the Eurobodalla is that there is high unemployment which is standard for the region and even higher under-employment simply because of the nature of the work and the financial capacities of our local employers.

The ABS tells us “it was a fall in the participation rate that caused the unemployment rate to decline”. What that actually means is that there were fewer “registering as unemployed”, or should that read “receiving unemployment benefits”. The reality is that from Monday July 4 2022, Australian job seekers came under a new social security system to police eligibility for support payments. Now you had to earn 100 points per month. What was already difficult became more so. The truth is that the number of unemployed has dropped because the hurdles required to jump has driven more and more into looking for whatever part time work they can find rather than focussing on a full time position.

Above: how would you go trying to get 100 points every month knowing that if you don't you receive a demerit point and after three demerits you are out. A closer look at our local economy reveals the rising number in vacancies are predominantly part time. These numbers add to our ever increasing population of retirees who are either with CenterLink or self funded. The statistics, as they are being slowly released by the ABS from the last census, go hand in hand with the anecdotes we are hearing of decreasing numbers across an array of industries, from age care to building to education. Ours is an ageing population with one of the highest of over 65’s in the State, yet , despite the enormous value of their work to the community, aged care workers are among the country's lowest paid. It is little wonder there are so many unfilled vacancies and the sector is under resourced. So where has everyone gone? What has become of the processes we once had in place where there would be a groundswell of new bodies to replace old? As one retires another steps in to fill the void whilst another comes to fill the increase in population. It’s as if there has been an exodus that we weren’t aware of. The question needs to be “What do we need to rebuild our numbers of nurses, teachers, emergency workers, aged care workers and all the others vital for our day to day?” But in order to do so we need to work out what went wrong. Why are our key essential personnel so undervalued. Meanwhile the numbers released are deceptively telling us we have never had it better, as attested by our low unemployment rates. You can’t always believe the spin. Until next—lei