Unemployment rate rises for the first time in 2 years

The latest data has announced that the unemployment rate has rose this month for the first time since January 2022.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the unemployment rate climbed 0.1 percentage point to 4.1 per cent. This was an increase of around 22,000 people.

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics commented on the announcement: “While there were more unemployed people in January, there were also more unemployed people who were expecting to start a job in the next four weeks.”

“This may be an indication of a changing seasonal dynamic within the labour market, around when people start working after the summer holiday period. In January 2022, 2023 and 2024, around five per cent of people who were not employed were attached to a job, compared with around four per cent in the January surveys prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Meanwhile, the employment to population ratio dropped 0.1 percentage point to 64.1 per cent, and the seasonally adjusted participation rate remained steady at 66.8 per cent.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.