Albo's Jobs Boasts Come Back to Bite

Anthony Albanese once knew exactly how to judge a government’s employment record. He said to look beyond the headlines, to examine whether Australians can get enough work, and to ask what is happening to young people trying to get a start.

Those were the standards he applied to Scott Morrison. They have now come back to bite him fairly forcefully.

The September labour-force figures, released on 15 October, show employment falling by 39,300, with unemployment at 4.7%, a near-five-year high. August’s rate also rounds to 4.7% in the revised figures. The number unemployed increased by 8,900 to 732,000.

Full-time employment rose by 34,400, but part-time employment fell by 73,700. Participation dropped to 66.8%, while underemployment rose to 6.3%.

Those figures are bad enough. But the youth unemployment numbers beggar belief. Those same September labour-force figures reveal that youth unemployment is now than twice the national rate of unemployment, sitting at 11.1%.

In an August 2019 attack on Morrison, his office complained that “youth unemployment remains at twice the national average.” The comparison Albo considered damning under the Coalition now is staring his own government in the face.

That same release condemned Morrison’s record for higher unemployment and underemployment. Albo understood that a government should answer for the direction of the labour market. Australians are entitled to apply that standard consistently.

Then, there's the promises. Broken, as you'd expect from Albo.

On 2 July 2021, Albo announced that a Labor government would commission a Full Employment White Paper. It would bring government, industry and unions together to develop a plan to reduce unemployment and underemployment. By November 2021, the commitment on Albo's website was explicit: the White Paper would plot a path to “reduce unemployment and underemployment and keep them low”.

Labor defined its ambition broadly: fewer unemployed Australians, secure jobs, sufficient hours and wider participation. It accused Morrison of lacking a plan to tackle structural barriers to full employment.

Albo asked to be judged on something more substantial than a summit photograph or a policy document. He offered better working lives.

His most uncomfortable statement came in a doorstop interview on 16 December 2021.

“Well, the unemployment rate, of course, hides what’s really happening in the labour market,” he said.

He went on to describe Australians piecing together limited hours in delivery work, retail and hospitality, while wanting more employment. His argument was that being counted as employed did not necessarily mean having enough income or security.

Apply that argument now. A fall in participation and rising underemployment demand scrutiny alongside the unemployment rate.

Once in government, Albanese elevated the ambition into an official undertaking. The September 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit statement, issued with the Treasurer, made full employment a central objective of economic and fiscal policy.

By 5 June 2026, he was celebrating 1.2 million additional jobs over four years and the lowest average unemployment in 50 years. But a Prime Minister who claims credit for employment gains must also answer when the market weakens.

The demand for accountability rests on Albo’s chosen standard: secure work, enough hours and opportunities for Australians being left behind.

He established that test in opposition, promised to meet it in government and celebrated when the figures suited him. Now he owes Australians an explanation.

“The best social program we can have is a job.”
― Ronald Reagan