Australia sees unemployment fall to 6.6% in December

Although employment has recovered 90% of the fall from March to May, the recovery in part-time employment has outpaced full-time employment.
By: | January 25, 2021
Topics: Australia | DE&I | Job Cuts | News | Recruitment

Australia’s unemployment rate declined to 6.6% in December, from 6.8% in November, official data showed. 

Last month, the employment numbers increased by 50,000 people, said the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As compared to March 2020, the number of employed people in Australia was 88,000 lower in December, but 784,000 higher than in May.

“Although employment has recovered 90% of the fall from March to May, the recovery in part-time employment has outpaced full-time employment. While part-time employment was higher than March, full-time employment was 1.3% below March,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS.

Unemployment fell the most in the island state of Tasmania, declining by 0.9 percentage point to 7%. Victoria state also showed jobs recovering following its second lockdown. The only Australian state to register a rise in unemployment was South Australia. 

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“The recovery in hours worked has been slower than the recovery in employment,” Jarvis added. Official data showed that the recovery in hours worked and employment slowed in December, with hours worked increasing slightly,  by 0.1%,  and employment increasing by 0.4%, said ABS.  

Meanwhile the participation rate, which represents the labour force as a proportion of the civilian population aged 15 years and over, rose by a further 0.1 percentage points to a new high of 66.2%, according to ABS.