Oldies dumped from labour market

Some nice charts from Greg Jericho today:

The good news is that as with all previous releases, because of more available data, we find that things were not as bad as previously estimated.

But that good news does not hide the reality that the number of jobs has fallen for both men and women since early July.

Now clearly the overriding reason for this has been the shutdown in Victoria. Since 11 July, jobs in Victoria have fallen 2.8% – much greater than New South Wales’ fall of 0.7%.

Victoria has now easily suffered more job losses since the pandemic hit in early March than any other state.

But the problem is we cannot just carve out Victoria and suggest all is well elsewhere. One problem is that Victoria’s economy has a large impact on the rest of the nation. Businesses in other states rely on business in Victoria. When it shuts down – or the borders close – so too do business in those other states.

During July there was tepid growth at best outside of Victoria, and in NSW and the ACT jobs fell.

One of the more striking aspects of the job numbers is just how well work for teenagers has recovered.

The ABS now estimates that the number of jobs for teenagers is essentially back to where it was prior to the pandemic, while at the same time the number of jobs for workers over the retirement age has plummeted.

The recovery of jobs for younger workers is the most striking aspect of these latest figures. All other ages have yet to recover more than half of the jobs that were lost at the lowest point of the pandemic.

It reflects that much of the recovery is currently directed towards work that is mostly casual or part-time and low pay.

I wonder as well how many oldies are keen to rush back to office and catch the virus.

Stand by for calls to pump up immigration to ease labour shortages!