Qld: Beattie defends jobs record

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Qld: Beattie defends jobs record

By Paul Osborne

BRISBANE, Feb 14 AAP - Queensland Premier Peter Beattie today defended his government'srecord on jobs following the state's 17th straight rise in monthly jobless figures.

Queensland's seasonally adjusted jobless figures in January rose 0.2 percentage pointsto 8.2 per cent - the highest in mainland Australia.

The national figure rose from 6.7 per cent to seven per cent.

Mr Beattie said Queensland's trend unemployment rate was unchanged at eight per centand the number of full-time jobs had risen by 1,200 in January.

"Total employment in Queensland rose by 0.1 per cent for the third consecutive month,"

Mr Beattie said.

"Our annual jobs growth strengthened by 0.1 to 1.9 per cent in January to be 0.7 percent above the national figure."

Mr Beattie said Queensland generated 29 per cent of jobs nationally in the 12 monthsto January, despite it only having about 16 per cent of the population.

"We are a successful creator of jobs, but I would like to see more," Mr Beattie said.

Opposition leader Mike Horan said the rise showed the government lacked a plan to tackleunemployment.

"The government is spending like a drunken sailor on building things like the GoodwillBridge and Lang Park, while underspending its infrastructure budget," Mr Horan said.

Liberal leader Bob Quinn said in the 12 months since Mr Beattie was re-elected thegovernment had failed to deliver on employment and training programs promised during theelection campaign.

Mr Quinn said the government had reneged on more than $14 million worth of trainingfunds, including $5 million in TAFE information technology funding and $7.4 million foraviation training.

"The training agenda of the government has been cut to pieces over the past 12 months,to the detriment of young people around this state," Mr Quinn said.

AAP pjo/sc/was

KEYWORD: JOBS BEATTIE