The Federal Employment Minister, Peter Reith, says employment growth is continuing strongly although he acknowledges there is more to do. Mr Reith says the unemployment rate was pushed up because the number of people searching for work rose, but overall the situation has been steady. Over the last 12 months we've had 2.9 per cent growth, that's very strong, and in these monthly figures there was a fall in the full-time unemployment rate for younger people, for teenagers, and some of the young people's unemployment numbers are the best since 1978. The number of unemployed teenagers in Australia has fallen to a record low. Some 65,300 young people are officially seeking full-time work.
Teenage boys make up almost all the fall, while girls experienced only a slight fall.
The overall figure corresponds with a March youth unemployment rate of 22 per cent, a slight fall on February. The Government's key drug advisory board, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, will decide next week whether to allow its members to hold shares in drug companies. Melbourne may be facing a water shortage, as the autumn rains the city relies on to fill its catchments didn't arrive this year. Imagine a world where women can choose not to carry embryos which they know will grow into adults with cancer, and instead pick embryos guaranteed to live healthy lives. This technology could be available in Victoria in just a few months.