Australia's Unemployment Rate Stagnates Around 3.5% In March

Australia unemployment data - According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 3.5 percent in March. Lauren Ford, ABS head of labor statistics, said that with jobs increasing by about 53,000 and the number of unemployed decreasing by 1,600, the unemployment rate remained close to a 50-year low of 3.5 percent. We summarize this report on unemployment data directly based on information from miragenews.com.

Ford also said that along with the increase in employment, the employment-to-population ratio increased 0.1 percentage points to 64.4 per cent, with the participation rate remaining at 66.7 per cent. Both indicators were near their historical highs in November 2022, reflecting a tight labour market and explaining why employers are finding it difficult to fill high job openings. Ms Ford said that with consecutive months of strong growth in female employment (up 81,000 over the past two months), the female participation rate rose to a record high of 62.5 per cent, and their employment-to-population ratio also reached a record high of 60.4 per cent.

Hours of work

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked fell 0.2 per cent in March 2023, following a strong 3.8 per cent increase in February, and also continued to reflect a tight labour market. Ms Ford explained that over the past 12 months, hours worked have increased 5.5 per cent, outpacing the 3.3 per cent increase in employment. Since March 2020, hours worked have increased 8.4 per cent, compared with a 7.0 per cent increase in employment. She added that the strength of hours worked relative to employment suggests that strong levels of labour demand are being absorbed, to some extent, by people working longer hours. This suggests that while the number of jobs available has increased, employers are still struggling to fill vacancies quickly and are looking for ways to boost employee productivity. Seasonally adjusted employment and hours worked, indexed to March 2020.

Underemployment and underutilization

The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points to 6.2 per cent, following a 0.3 percentage point decline in February. Ms Ford said that while the underemployment rate was up, it remained historically low and was 2.5 percentage points lower than before the pandemic. This was supported by consistently faster growth in hours worked. Meanwhile, the underutilization rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, rose 0.4 percentage points to 9.7 per cent, but remained 4.2 percentage points lower than in March 2020. This means that while there was an increase in the underutilization rate, it is still lower than it was before the pandemic.

Underlying trend data

Employment trends increased by 31,700 people (0.2 percent) in March 2023, while monthly hours worked also increased by 0.2 percent. Ms Ford said, "The latest monthly percentage increase in employment trends is slightly higher than the average monthly increase over the 20 years before the pandemic. However, the latest monthly percentage increase in hours worked is nearly double the long-term average, which is consistent with the relative strength in hours worked over the past year." Consistent with the stronger increase in hours worked, most of the recent net job growth has been in full-time jobs, so the share of full-time employment is up from pre-pandemic levels.

"Before the pandemic, about 68.2 per cent of people in employment were full-time. This share had been generally declining for decades until 2017. However, it has now increased to 70.1 per cent in March 2023, around the same time ten years ago," Ms Ford said. There have been large month-to-month swings during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in many trend breaks. Therefore, the ABS recommends caution when using the trend estimates published in the spreadsheet in this release for this period. Information on trend breaks can be found in the Labour Force, Australia, March 2023 methodology. The trend unemployment rate remained at 3.5 per cent for the eighth consecutive month, while the trend underemployment rate rose slightly to 6.1 per cent.

The participation rate increased less than 0.1 percentage points to 66.8 per cent, the highest level in the trend series. The employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.4 per cent for the eighth straight month. "In terms of trends, the increase in the employment-to-population ratio and the participation rate, along with low unemployment and underemployment rates, all point to a consistently tight labour market," Ms Ford said.

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