Full-time employment rises in Australia as more jobs added in June

While job employment in Australia continues to defy expectation, the Reserve Bank of Australia is expecting moderate growth for the rest of 2023.
By: | July 24, 2023
Topics: Australia | News | Recruitment

Driven by full-time positions, Australia added 32,600 jobs from May to June, and represents a rise in employment in nine out of the past 12 months.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the unemployment rate in the country remains at 3.5%, consistent with the 3.4-3.7% range it has remained in since June 2022. Bjorn Jarvis, ABS Head of Labour Statistic, said, “In addition to there being over a million more employed people than before the pandemic, a much higher share of the population is employed.”

Full-time job positions increased by 39,300 while part-time positions fell by 6,700. Australia’s job participation rate dipped slightly, from 66.9% to 66.8%; underemployment remained at 6.4%, while underutilisation edged down to 9.9%. Employment has also increased in line with population growth, with the employment to population ratio staying at a record-high 64.5%, reported Bloomberg.

With 12 rate hikes already implemented over the last 15 months by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), annual jobs growth has eased to 3% from 3.1% at the start of 2023, although the RBA expects moderate job growth for the rest of the year.

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The central bank is also forecasting unemployment to climb to 4% by the end of 2023, driven by rising borrowing costs, and estimated the unemployment rate having to reach 4.5% to achieve sustainable inflation around the RBA’s 2-3% target.