The improvement in the state’s jobless figures out today is welcome news, but NSW still has the highest unemployment rate in the country, Shadow Treasurer Mike Baird said.

The NSW seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent in July, but remains above the national average of 5.8 per cent.

NSW has the highest unemployment figure in the country and there are now 221,200 unemployed people in the state.

“It’s concerning that the NSW jobless figure has consistently been above the national unemployment rate for almost four years now,” Mr Baird said.

“The Premier continues to spin that the jobless crisis is the result of the Global Financial Crisis but NSW has been well above the national figure since September 2005 – well before anyone heard of the GFC,” he said.

“Today’s figures are cold comfort for the hundreds of thousands of real people who are still looking for jobs in NSW.

“The Premier has his priorities all wrong – he’s more concerned about promoting himself with taxpayer-funded political advertising campaigns than getting on with the real hard work in creating jobs.

“The NSW Liberal/Nationals reiterate our calls for the Rees Labor Government to immediately implement our payroll tax plan to protect and supports jobs.

“That will assist businesses which employ more than two million workers across NSW and would send a new message that the Government is willing to support real jobs and businesses in this state – something we haven’t seen for a long time,” Mr Baird said.

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