In his 1906 autobiography, American author Mark Twain popularised the phrase: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."
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Others have been less abrasive when they said that statistics can be twisted and misconstrued in ways that can tell whatever story is required to fit a given agenda.
Take Tasmania’s unemployment figures, as stated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
On face value, we’re not tracking too badly – with a jobless rate of 6.4 per cent in trend terms in July. It was on par with the same figure in June.
According to the ABS, Tasmania’s unemployment rate has – statistically speaking – continued a downward trend since January and February when it was as high at 6.7 per cent and as much as 8.1 per cent in July 2013 under the Labor/Green government – a fact the Liberal government continues to push in the media.
A deeper look at those ABS Labour force figures for Tasmania, however, tells a different story – and it’s one the opposition Labor Party is now spruiking to all and sundry.
The focus has shifted to Tasmania’s participation rate – that is the number of jobless who are actively seeking employment.
At a national level, that figure sits around 64.8 per cent. In Tasmania in July it was 59.3 per cent - and that's been on the decline since 2014.
People – we assume long-term unemployed – are simply giving up looking for work, most likely because the jobs just aren’t there, or they’re simply not qualified or suitably trained for the ones that do exist.
The number of Tasmanians in either full-time or part-time employment is falling and has been since September last year.
Then it was 241,500. In July 2016, that number fell to 236,300 – a decrease of 5200 jobs. In anyone's language, that's significant.
To break that figure down, it's a fall of some 1600 full-time and 3600 part-time positions.
Without doubt, the North remains the hardest hit.
What’s most concerning is that there appears to be no genuine plan – at a state or federal government level – to turn that around, particularly in terms of youth unemployment, which remains one of this state’s most troubling social issues.
What we desperately need – what our state is crying out for – is someone to show leadership with a clear, defined vision to find a solution to our unemployment woes.