TASMANIA has recorded its worst unemployment result in a decade, topping 8.1 per cent in new ABS figures released yesterday.
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The jobless figure of 8.1 per cent is a headache for jobseekers and a political calamity for Premier Lara Giddings, who has made jobs the key priority of her government.
The result has prompted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to confirm he would ``spend some time with the Premier soon on what we can do further in that state'' about the ``very large level of unemployment in Tasmania''.
Much of the shock increase came from a revision of May ABS figures from 7.3 per cent to 7.9 per cent.
The result means more than 20,400 Tasmanians are unemployed - the worst figure since May 1999.
Ms Giddings said there was no dressing up the ``extremely disappointing'' result, which comes despite jobs being the government's number one priority.
As recently as last month Ms Giddings said there were ``signs that the jobs market is stabilising as confidence returns to the Tasmanian economy''.
Yesterday, Ms Giddings attributed the decline to an adverse external environment, soft levels of consumer confidence, a strong Australian dollar and the structural decline of heavy manufacturing and forestry industries.
``Over time this weakness should be compensated by strong prospects for some parts of Tasmania's agriculture industry, along with further expansion in aquaculture, tourism and mining,'' Ms Giddings said.
TCCI chief executive Michael Bailey described the result as ``very sobering'' as ``it's not numbers we're talking about, it's people''.
``Unemployment rates are one of the best ways of tracking how the economy is going . . . what we need now is to do everything we can to grow wealth-generating businesses, especially on red tape and planning,'' Mr Bailey said.
The opposition was quick to blame the government for the job losses, which was re-elected in March 2010 with the unemployment rate at 5.6 per cent pledging to create 15,000 jobs.
Acting Opposition Leader Jeremy Rockliff described the unemployment figures as ``a shocking set of numbers'' which ``highlight how much Labor and the Greens have failed Tasmania'', calling for stimulus to the private sector.
Two years ago, the Tasmanian unemployment rate mirrored the Australian average between 5 and 6 per cent, but while the national figure has largely stayed within that band and sits at 5.7 per cent, the Tasmanian rate has surged.
Tasmania last had an unemployment figure beginning with an 8 in May 2003, which at 8.2 per cent was on the way down from two decades north of 8 per cent.
