Newman welcomes drop in Queensland unemployment rate

Campbell Newman's bid to keep his job is looking more certain because more Queenslanders have jobs of their own.

The latest unemployment figures show tens of thousands of full time positions have been created in the past month.

The Premier was out west today when he got the good news that unemployment was down.

Between November and December unemployment fell from 6.8 percent to 6.1 percent - from 169,400 jobless Queenslanders to 153,400.

“It’s a welcome figure,” Treasurer Tim Nicholls said today.

But Labor disagrees.

“The trend unemployment rate is still at 6.6 percent. It’s the second highest unemployment rate on mainland Australia behind Victoria,” Shadow Treasurer Curtis Pitt said.

In Airlie Beach today, Annastacia Palaszczuk was also talking jobs, pledging $40 million to boost tourism.