Page 259 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 30 May 1989
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that school leavers are better prepared for the world of work. For those young people who suffer lengthy periods of unemployment we will be developing assistance schemes that build their skills and self-confidence to enable them to regain jobs.
The link between social justice and economic security is also important for women in the ACT community. While the last decade has seen significant growth in the proportion of women in the ACT work force, their access to different types of jobs has been neither equitable nor consistent with the economic well-being of the ACT.
I emphasise these direct links between social justice and economic security for we are now entering a challenging period. We will need all our energy and enterprise if we are to sustain, much less improve, our current standard of living in the ACT community.
We have just enjoyed four years of rapid and sustained economic growth in the ACT. In the last year, however, the momentum has faded. ACT employment is now growing more slowly than the national average. The slowdown reflects the fact that there is no growth in Commonwealth public service employment. It reflects reductions from a peak in Commonwealth capital works expenditure following completion of Parliament House, and a consequential reduction in consumer spending.
Over the next year, 1989-90, population and employment growth are foreshadowed to be at less than 2 per cent per annum. This slowdown comes at a time when there are record numbers of young adults looking to move into the labour market.
In the circumstances, the Chief Minister's success in retaining the Commonwealth Government's budgetary commitments to the ACT provides the necessary firm base for the development and pursuit of the Government's economic strategy.
While the Government will work to encourage the Commonwealth Government to maintain its contribution to the ACT economy, our economic and social future relies substantially on the private sector. Private enterprise will be critical to investment growth and the job prospects of these new labour market entrants, and thus to ensuring unemployment remains below the national average. If we are to achieve private sector investments in the ACT's future we will need a clear strategy, a supportive environment and the complementary action elsewhere in the ACT public sector.
Work is now proceeding on a strategic approach to ACT economic development. This strategy will identify components of the private sector which offer the greatest opportunity for growth, particularly in terms of new jobs. This growth will need to reflect our market advantages in a
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