ABS reported a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, falling by 0.1 percentage point to 4% in May.
This change reflects an increase in employment by approximately 40,000 people and a decrease in unemployment by 9,000.
Bjorn Jarvis (pictured above), ABS head of labour statistics, noted that this movement partly resulted from individuals who were previously waiting to start work now becoming employed.
“In April we saw more unemployed people than usual waiting to start work,” Jarvis said in a media release. “Some of the fall in unemployment and rise in employment in May reflects these people starting or returning to their jobs.”
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The report also highlighted a 0.5% reduction in hours worked, influenced by an increase in employees working reduced hours due to illness.
“Similar to May 2023, around 4.2% of people worked fewer hours because they were sick, compared with the pre-pandemic average for May of 3.5%,” Jarvis said.
ABS figures also showed that despite fluctuations in employment and hours worked, the underemployment and underutilisation rates remained stable. The underemployment rate held at 6.7%, and the underutilisation rate stayed at 10.7%.
In trend terms, the unemployment rate edged up to 4% from a revised 3.9% in April. The participation rate, particularly notable among women, remains high at 62.7%.
Jarvis pointed out the narrowing gender gap.
“The gap between female and male participation rates has been around 8 percentage points over the past year, compared to around 9.6 percentage points in the year before the pandemic,” he said.
For more details, read Labour Force, Australia, May 2024. To compare with the previous results, click here.
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