A national forum dedicated to jobs will take place during October this year, the Australian prime minister has revealed.

Julia Gillard declared that the one-day event next month is intended to examine future employment as the country's economy changes and will feature around 80 delegates from businesses, academia and unions, as well as government.

It is being organized by the federal government at Parliament House, Canberra, in order to ensure new paid roles are generated as demographic shifts take place and Australia moves towards cleaner energy generation.

"The government believes it's important to discuss the opportunities and challenges our economy faces in the years ahead as we look to build on our already strong foundations," Ms Gillard stated.

October 6th 2011 will see subjects discussed by delegates include economic change, drivers of job creation, the future of manufacturing employment, competition and innovation.

The announcement follows figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a slight rise of 0.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate to 5.3 per cent in August 2011.

Posted by Sarah Dixon