Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP - Press Conference
20 August 2026
Contents updated on 20 Aug 2026
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Press Conferences Australian Parliament
05:50 - 07:27
Speaker 3
Hello. Excellent. Well I will get going. Well, today's labor force figures demonstrate that Australia's labor market remains resilient despite some softening. This is particularly the case when we compare Australia's job market to other advanced economies and by historical standards, with more than 1.3 million jobs being added to our economy since May 2022.
The unemployment rate did increase marginally over the month of July, but this still remains low by historical standards. While employment decreased by 15,800 jobs, we've seen an increase over the year with more than 190,000 more jobs in Australia today than there was a year ago. Now encouragingly, full-time employment rose to a record high of 10.2 million Australians in full-time work in July. And underemployment also fell in July, which means more people are getting the hours that they want. Now these figures today demonstrate the ongoing resilience of Australia's labor market despite the global uncertainty and ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
07:27 - 08:32
Speaker 4
There of course will continue to be challenges across the global economy, however our government is taking all practical measures to shield Australians and the nation from the worst of these impacts. And indeed, yesterday's wages data that actually showed that in the June quarter, real wages grew, is important. And also the data yesterday that showed that in the four years we have been in government, nominal wages have increased higher than 3% during that period. If we of course look at employment growth since 2022, Australia has outpaced all major advanced economies. So this is good news.
Finally I'd say that the Albanese government is absolutely committed to creating more jobs and to get wages moving so that we can support hardworking Australians. Go to questions.
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