Australians under 35 and those aged 50 and over have recorded the steepest employment declines over the past three months, according to Roy Morgan employment estimates for May 2026.
Employment for workers under 35 fell by 180,000 since February 2026 to 5,589,000. The unemployment rate for this group rose from 14.2 per cent to 15 per cent, up 0.8 percentage points over the three months – the highest rate among the three age groups measured.
Workers aged 50 and over recorded a larger employment decline of 231,000, bringing employment in this group to 3,781,000. The unemployment rate for this age group rose from 6.8 per cent to 8.6 per cent, up 1.8 percentage points since February.
By contrast, workers aged 35-49 were not affected by the same trend. Employment for this group rose by 25,000 to 4,786,000 over the same period. The unemployment rate fell from 9.1 per cent to 7 per cent, a decline of 2.1 percentage points since February.
These age-based declines come as Australia's overall workforce has shrunk for three consecutive months.
Roy Morgan estimates the total workforce – combining employed and unemployed Australians – at 15,860,000 in May, down 231,000 on the previous month and down 403,000 since February 2026, the month the Reserve Bank began raising interest rates.
Victoria accounted for 162,000 of the three-month workforce decline, or 40 per cent of the national total, with the state's workforce at 4,086,000 in May. The rest of Australia recorded a combined drop of 245,000, or 60 per cent of the national decline, with the workforce there at 11,767,000.
Employment has also fallen nationally. In Victoria, employment dropped 172,000 over the three months to 3,591,000, representing 45 per cent of the national employment decline. The rest of Australia recorded a fall of 210,000, or 55 per cent of the national total.