Australia’s unemployment at historic low for third straight month
- Charles Chau
- Topics: Australia, Home Page - News, Job Cuts, News, Recruitment
However, federal treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the figures are tempered by challenges in inflation and wage growth.
The latest monthly Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Figures estimate over 60,000 extra people were employed last month, driven entirely by full-time jobs.
The headline unemployment rate remained stable at 3.9% for the third consecutive month. Meanwhile, the underemployment rate hit a 14-year low, dropping from 6.1% to 5.7%.
It is the seventh consecutive increase in employment following the ease of lockdown restrictions in 2021, the ABS said.
“Average employment growth over the past three months (30,000) continues to be stronger than the pre-pandemic trend of around 20,000 people per month,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.
The participation rate – people in work or looking for employment – also hit a record high, up to 66.7% from 66.4%. “For the first time ever, more than two out of three Australians aged 15 and over were participating in the labour force,” Jarvis said.
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In Victoria, the headline rate fell to its lowest level since monthly records began in 1978. NSW’s unemployment rate rose slightly, up 0.5% to 4.0%. NSW treasurer Matt Kean attributed the rise to the “large jump in participation”, according to Perth Now.
