Unemployment rate rises to 4.1%

New data from the ABS shows that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by less than 0.1 percentage point to 4.1 per cent in June.

Earlier today (Thursday, 18 June), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed the unemployment and participation rates nationwide for the period of 2 June 2024 to 15 June 2024, which shows a slight uptick in seasonally adjusted unemployment.

Speaking about the new figures, ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said: “With employment rising by around 50,000 people and the number of unemployed growing by 10,000 people, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1 per cent, and the participation rate rose to 66.9 per cent.”

“The participation rate in June was only 0.1 percentage point lower than the historical high of 67.0 per cent in November 2023. The employment-to-population ratio rose by 0.1 percentage point to 64.2 per cent, which was also close to its historical high of 64.4 per cent in November 2023.

“The employment-to-population ratio and participation rate both continue to be near their 2023 highs. This, along with the continued high level of job vacancies, suggests the labour market remains relatively tight, despite the unemployment rate being above 4.0 per cent since April.

“Unemployment rose 10,000 people in June, following a fall of 9,000 in May. While it has increased from a low of 491,000 people in October 2022 to 608,000 in June, it is still around 100,000 people or 14.2 per cent lower than just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The unemployment rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than June last year, and 1.1 percentage points lower than March 2020.”

This all said, employment grew by 42,000 people (0.3 per cent) in this reporting period, which was faster than the 20-year pre-pandemic average (0.2 per cent), the ABS noted.

Further to this, hours worked increased by 0.3 per cent, while seasonally adjusted hours rose by 0.8 per cent.

“In June, we continued to see more people than usual working reduced hours because they were sick, similar to what we saw in May. Around 4.5 per cent of employed people in June could not work their usual hours because they were sick, compared to the pre-pandemic average for June of 3.6 per cent,” Jarvis said.

“However, we also saw less people taking annual leave in June 2024. There were around 12.5 per cent of people working fewer hours because they were on leave, compared with the pre-pandemic average for June of 14.5 per cent. This contributed to the increase in hours worked this month.”

Elsewhere, the ABS noted that the underemployment rate remained at 6.5 per cent, and the underutilisation rate fell by just under 0.1 percentage point to 10.5 per cent.

“In trend terms, all indicators still point to a tight labour market, although it is less tight than in early 2023,” Jarvis said.