13 consecutive months of jobs growth

Labour force figures released by the ABS show the number of jobs in Australia has increased for the 13th straight month – the longest consecutive run of jobs growth since 1994. In October, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 per cent.
There are now 355,700 more Australians in work than a year ago – more than 80% of these new jobs are full time jobs. Full time employment has grown by 297,700 in the past 12 months (and by 24,300 in October).
Our economy is creating, on average, around 1,000 new jobs a day.
Jobs growth over the last 12 months is more than four times stronger than Labor’s last year in government.
Total employment stands at a record high of 12,297,100. Since the Coalition was elected to office in September 2013, 831,100 jobs have been created – an average of over 200,000 new jobs each year.
The latest growth in total full time employment, total male employment and total female employment represented the largest increase in these measurements over the first 10 months of a calendar year on record.
The current rate of jobs growth remains high at 3.0 per cent over the year and is well above the decade average rate of 1.6 per cent
Unemployment fell by 8,100 and aggregate monthly hours worked in all jobs rose by 4.6 million hours over the month, to a record high of 1,723.7 million hours.

ParentsNext request for tender released
The Nationals-Liberal Government has released the Request for Tender for ParentsNext 2018-2021, inviting applications from organisations with the capacity to help parents with young children to plan and prepare for their future employment.
ParentsNext participants receive personalised assistance, including help to identify their education and employment goals and support to achieve them. It has been operating in 10 locations across Australia since April 2016.
The Government understands that the best form of welfare is a job. For many parents however, particularly women, caring for young children means large gaps out of the paid workforce.
People can gain valuable new skills and social networks through parenting, but they also risk losing work-specific skills and the confidence to enter paid employment. For parents already receiving government income support, this can increase the risk of long-term welfare dependency.
By providing support to assist Australian parents to return to the workforce, ParentsNext is playing an important role in supporting families, reducing welfare dependency and decreasing child poverty.
As announced in the 2017-18 Budget, the Government is investing $263 million to expand ParentsNext nationally from 1 July 2018. It will be expanded to all non-remote regions of Australia to help around 68,000 parents every year to plan and prepare for employment by the time their children are at school.
It is estimated that around 96 per cent of ParentsNext participants are expected to be women, including about 10,000 Indigenous women. ParentsNext will also complement a range of other government initiatives designed to increase female participation in the workforce.
The Department of Employment will hold information sessions in most capital cities and via two webinars. Interested organisations can register their interest at www.ivvy.com.au/event/pnrft
For more information about the tender process, visit www.employment.gov.au/purchasing email espurchasing@employment.gov.au or call 1300 733 514. Applications close at 5pm AEDT on Monday 18 December 2017.

New markets in Latin-America
The new Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA) will open a new market in Latin America to Australian farmers. The agreement will help Australia build on the $590 million trade relationship shared with Peru.
With a population of 31 million and GDP of US$207 billion, plus steadily increasing per capita incomes (US$6,500 in 2017), Peru is a promising partner for expanding agricultural trade.
The deal with Peru also creates greater potential to expand trade into the broader Latin American region, to fuel growth of our agricultural sector and generate better returns at the farmgate. A marketing opportunity for kangaroo meat has been identified through this particular trade agreement.
Agricultural exports are a key pillar of our national economy and the Coalition has consistently sought to improve market access for our farmers.