As summarised earlier by Houses & Holes, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released labour force data for the month of November, which registered a marginal increase in the headline unemployment rate to 6.26% (from 6.25% in October), with unemployment climbing to the highest level since September 2002.
The result was in line with analyst’s expectations. In trend terms, the unemployment rate rose to 6.26% in November (from 6.23%) – the highest unemployment since August 2002 (see next chart).