Today’s release of the – Labour Force data – for April 2014 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms, once again, how weak the labour market is. All the talk recently from the financial markets and the government about how the economy has ‘turned the corner’ and the lean times are behind us are plainly wrong. Today’s data confirms the stagnant situation that we have been witnessing for the last few years. Employment growth weak and barely keeping pace with the underlying population growth and the participation rate falling. The only reason the unemployment rate hasn’t risen is that workers are exiting the labour force because there are not enough job opportunities available – unemployment becomes hidden unemployment. This is the last major data release before the Federal government unveils its fiscal statement next Tuesday. The talk has been tough and the need to ‘repair the sick budget’. Trying to reduce the government deficit given how weak private spending is tantamount to vandalism on a large scale. The fiscal deficit should be expanded significantly at present. It is not a ‘patient’ but a set of accounting numbers. The real pathology is the lack of job opportunities. That needs ‘repair’, which means more not less spending is required. If only there was a credible political opposition.