Australia saw jobs availability increase in January

The increase in the number of jobs was all in part-time jobs, which rose by approximately 30,000 in January, while full-time employment fell by about 17,000. Year-on-year, the number of jobs was up by 2.8%.

By state, Queensland saw the largest increase in the number of employed people, rising by 0.7%, followed by Western Australia with an increase of 0.6%. The state with the largest decline in employed people was South Australia, where the number fell by 0.8%.

The country’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in January from December at 4.2%.

Though there was an uptick in the number of jobs, monthly hours worked in all jobs fell by 8.8% in January due to more people than usual taking annual leave and sick leave in the first two weeks of January.

“Nationally, and in New South Wales and Victoria, the number of people who worked reduced hours because they were sick was around three times the pre-pandemic average for January,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS. “In other states and territories, it was twice as many people.”

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He said during the pandemic, hours worked tended to be much more affected than employment. “This reflects people working reduced or no hours, without necessarily losing their jobs,” he said, according to Staffing Industry Analysis.