Almost 90,000 Australians found or increased work between January and February this year.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recorded 70,000 fewer unemployed people, registering a decline in the rate by 0.5 percentage points.
“In less than 12 months from when the recession began, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are now more jobs in the Australian economy than there were before the pandemic,” Mr Morrison said.
“That is something that is truly remarkable and is a great credit to every Australian who hung in there, every Australian business who kept people in jobs, everyone who played a role in ensuring that we did everything that we possibly could to see that Australia continues to come through this COVID-19 pandemic and recession in the best way that we possibly can.”
The unemployment rate still remains marginally higher than it was in March 2020, the key measuring point for the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said this latest data showed continued recovery in the labour market into February, particularly for women.
“The strong employment growth this month saw employment rise above 13 million people, and was 4,000 people higher than March 2020.
“Full-time employment increased by 89,000 people, of which 69,000 were women. Female full-time employment was 1.8 per cent higher than March 2020, while male full-time employment was 0.8 per cent below.”
Promisingly, data released in February revealed around 520,000 employers and 2.13 million employees have graduated from the JobKeeper program since September last year which means they are no longer claiming the supplement.
A total of 1.54 million workers were supported by the program in December 2020, down from 3.6 million recorded in the month of September 2020.
Mr Morrison said the looming wind-down of JobKeeker payments were not a major issue.
He noted that as unemployment support was geared down in December, “jobs increased”.
“Our plan is working,” he said.
“We need to stick to the plan.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said more than 80 percent of the newly created jobs went to women.
“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“There are sectors, there are regions across the country who continue to do it tough, but these numbers are encouraging and these numbers give Australians confidence about their economic future.”
The prime minister is not considering an extension to JobKeeper.
“JobKeeper must come to an end. It has done its job,” Mr Morrison said.
“At each stage of our gear change on JobKeeper we have seen the economy continue to move forward.
“Now, we are going into that final phase when it comes to JobKeeper and that is why I am pleased we are going into it with a strong run-up.”
Mr Morrison said he was “absolutely certain” that JobKeeper had saved lives.
This content first appear on 9news