Australia’s jobless rate hits 50-year low in April

The unemployment rate for males declined by 0.2 percentage points to 4%, its lowest level since October 2008.
By: | May 23, 2022
Topics: Australia | Job Cuts | News | Recruitment

The jobless rate in Australia has hit 3.9% in April, its lowest in 50 years, as more jobs were filled and employees worked longer hours, showed data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

“3.9% is the lowest the unemployment rate has been in the monthly survey,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS. “The last time the unemployment rate was lower than this was in August 1974, when the survey was quarterly,” he added. 

In April, hours worked rose by 1.3%, or 23 million hours, to 1.833 billion hours. 

The unemployment rate for males declined by 0.2 percentage points to 4%, its lowest level since October 2008. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for females remained at 3.7% for a second month, which is the lowest since May 1974.

READ: Real income in Australia shrinks as wage growth trails behind inflation

“Hours in New South Wales and Queensland increased in April following the impacts of the floods in March. The number of people working fewer hours than usual due to bad weather dropped from its March peak of over 500,000 to around 70,000 people in April,” noted Jarvis.