52,000 new Australian jobs were created in January, but youth unemployment remains high.

The ABS survey revealed a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.3%, a much better result than was anticipated. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted that the unemployment rate would be 5.6%.

However, most of the new jobs were part time, with only 15,900 being full time.

The consensus of economic opinion is that the unemployment rate peaked at 5.8% last year, which was only a 2% increase during the economic downturn.

The better than expected unemployment figure will add pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates in March.

The youth unemployment rate in January is still high, at 24%. 65,000, aged 15 to 19 years, could not find a full time job. While this figure is a reduction from 79,000 in July 2009, it is still much higher than for all other age ranges.

The unemployment rate, in seasonally adjusted terms, in each state, was either level or reduced, except in the ACT which had a small rise.

Queensland: 5.9% down to 5.5%

NSW: 5.9% down to 5.6%

Victoria: 5.3% and unchanged

SA: 5.2% down to 4.4%

WA: 5.1% down to 5%

Tasmania: 5.2% and unchanged

ACT: 3.7% up to 3.8%

NT: 3.4% down to 3.3%

Small businesses are the main driver of new employment and we assist them by providing prospects at no cost to them from our Local Search facility in our Business Directory. Most of the 1.2 million businesses listed are small firms.



Monte Huebsch, CEO

 

Australian small businesses say that Bendigo Bank provides the highest level of customer satisfaction.

A survey by Roy Morgan Research of over 3,000 Australian small business proprietors established that Bendigo Bank was the leader in providing quality service with a rating of 84.5%, however this was a drop of 4.3% from twelve months ago.

Total scores for most banks were lower than the satisfaction figures from a year ago.

St George was the second most favoured, with a rating of 72.4%, a reduction of 2.1% from the previous year.

The order of the balance of the banks was:

ANZ

Westpac

CBA

NAB

While Westpac and CBA had a small improvement in their results, NAB suffered a reversal, falling 3% compared to a year ago.

A separate survey by the Council of Small Business Australia reported that the main arrears of concern for small businesses were the cost of getting finance and the high level of interest rates that banks applied to them.

We assist small businesses with our Local Search facility in our Australian Business Directory, which provides them with prospects at no cost to them. Most of the 1.2 million business listed are small firms.



Monte Huebsch, CEO.