Employment has increased by around 33,000 people in June, with the number of unemployed dropping by 11,000, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data revealed.
Due to this, Australia’s unemployment rate remains stagnant at 3.5% (seasonally adjusted), in line with the updated figure for May.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said the rise in employment in June saw the employment-to-population ratio remain at a record high of 64.5%. This reflects a “tight labour market” in which employment has recently increased in line with population growth.
“In addition to there being over a million more employed people than before the pandemic, a much higher share of the population is employed,” Jarvis said. “In June 2023, 64.5% of people 15 years or older were employed, an increase of 2.1 percentage points since March 2020.”
The participation rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 66.8% from last month’s record high. It fell 0.2 percentage points for women, to 62.5%, and rose 0.1 percentage point to 71.3% for men.
Monthly hours worked increased by 0.3% in June 2023, which was again faster than the growth in employment (0.2%), ABS reported.
“Over the past 12 months, hours worked increased 4.7%, outpacing the 3.0% increase in employment,” Jarvis said.
“The strength in hours worked since late 2022, relative to employment growth, shows the demand for labour is continuing to be met, to some extent, by people working more hours.
“Consistent with the stronger growth in hours worked, full-time employment has increased by 380,000 people over the past year, while part-time employment increased by 30,000.”
The underemployment rate remained at 6.4%, following a 0.3 percentage points rise in May.
Jarvis said the underemployment rate is still low in historic terms, around 2.3 percentage points lower than before the pandemic.
The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, fell 0.1 percentage point to 9.9%. The trend unemployment rate remained low at 3.5% for the eleventh month in a row.
Employment grew by 39,000 (0.3%) in June and the employment-to-population ratio remained high at 64.5%.
Hours worked increased faster than employment in trend terms (0.5% and 0.3%). The proportion of people working full-time rose to 70.2%, its highest level since December 2012 and 2.0 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.
“The rapid rise in full-time employment has been particularly pronounced for women, rising from 54.2% of employed women just before the pandemic to 57.9 per cent in June 2023 – the highest it has been since 1994.
“This compares to a more modest increase in the share of employed men working full-time, which increased from 80.9% before the pandemic to around 81.5% in June, around where it was in 2018.”
The participation rate remained at 66.8%. The female participation rate rose to a record high of 62.6%.
The underemployment rate rose by less than 0.1 percentage point to 6.4%.