Unemployment rate rises in April

Unemployment rate rises in April | Australian Broker News

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Unemployment rate rises in April

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Employment, participation rate additionally up

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.2 share factors to 4.1% in April, up from 3.9% in March, contemporary ABS figures confirmed.

Rising employment, unemployment, participation rate

With employment rising by round 38,000 individuals and the variety of unemployed rising by some 30,000 individuals, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, and the participation rate edged as much as 66.7%.

“The 30,000 individuals enhance in unemployment mirrored extra individuals with out jobs obtainable and searching for work, and likewise extra individuals than common indicating that that they had a job that they have been ready to begin in,” Bjorn Jarvis (pictured above), ABS head of labour statistics, mentioned in a media launch.

“The will increase in each employment and unemployment in April noticed the participation rate up by 0.1 share level to 66.7% in April. It has been comparatively excessive, above 66.5%, since March 2023.”

The employment-to-population ratio remained regular in April at 64%, indicating that latest employment progress is broadly holding tempo with inhabitants progress.

“This means that the labour market stays tight, although much less tight than late 2022 and early 2023,” Jarvis mentioned.

Steady month-to-month hours labored

Seasonally adjusted month-to-month hours labored remained steady between March and April.

“The seasonal change in hours labored in April 2024 was much like the traditional sample we normally see across the Easter holidays,” Jarvis mentioned.

“In distinction to what we noticed final 12 months, when fewer individuals than common took time without work across the Easter holidays in April 2023, the proportion of individuals working lowered hours in April 2024 was extra much like what we noticed earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Underemployment and underutilisation charges

The ABS figures additionally confirmed that the underemployment rate rose by 0.2 share factors to six.6% in April, whereas the underutilisation rate, which mixes the unemployment and underemployment charges, elevated by 0.3 share factors to 10.7%. Despite these will increase, each charges stay considerably decrease than their ranges in March 2020.

Compare the newest ABS knowledge with the figures in March and February.

Trend knowledge insights

The pattern unemployment rate stayed at 4% in April. Trend employment grew by 31,000 individuals (0.2%), aligning with the common progress noticed over the 20 years earlier than the pandemic.

Hours labored elevated by 0.4% between March and April, aligning extra intently with employment progress since December 2023 and surpassing the earlier peak in June 2023.

The employment-to-population ratio stayed at 64% in April, near the excessive ranges of 2023 and 1.9 factors larger than March 2020. The participation rate remained at 66.7%, in step with the previous 12 months and nicely above the 65.6% in March 2020.

The underemployment rate held regular at 6.6%, and the underutilisation rate remained at 10.6%.

“The most up-to-date pattern knowledge continues to level to a comparatively tight labour market, in step with what we now have seen in Single Touch Payroll knowledge and job vacancies knowledge,” Jarvis mentioned.

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