Rise in unemployment

March Labour Force figures released this morning by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 34,700 jobs were lost last month and the unemployment rate hit a five year high of 5.7%, up 0.5% from February's 5.2%.
The fall was driven by the loss of nearly 39,000 full time jobs, and only partly offset by a rise of 4,200 part time jobs. It was the second successive month where there was a big loss in full time employment.

Unemployment jumped 52,900 in the month to 650,900, which in turn was up more than 44% on March 2008's figure of 451,000. More than half that increase of 199,000 in the past 12 months has come since January of this year with around 103,000 extra people joining the ranks of the unemployed.

That is 103,000 families directly impacted and tenfold that indirectly. What is often forgotten is the impact this has on children. Being unemployed is often among many things stressful, demoralising and tough on disposable income. This can sometimes translate into verbal abuse of family members, domestic violence or even suicide.

Through Good Beginnings’ 80 programs and 29 sites around Australia, our 100 staff and 600 trained volunteers support, educate and encourage parents to provide them with the support to raise their children well.
Our work is based on the simple fact that the nurturing and care children receive in their early years strongly influence their development into adulthood. The more we support and encourage children, the better equipped they will be to deal with life’s ups and downs, and the more likely they are to develop into well adjusted, healthy, productive, caring adults.

Parents are doing one of the most vital jobs in the country – bringing up the next generation of Australians.  If we can make a difference in the lives of Australian kids we can make a difference for Australia; that’s what Good Beginnings is all about.

With unemployment increasing dramatically in Australia and with parents facing increasing pressures, the work of an organisation like Good Beginnings becomes even more critical.  Strong, resilient, supported kids cope better when times are tough.