Roy Morgan unemployment high in March

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The Roy Morgan unemployment figure is out this afternoon and is comment worthy:

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In March 2013 an estimated 1.37 million Australians (10.8% of the workforce) were unemployed. This is down 0.1% from last month. The Australian workforce* was 12,644,000, (a record high) comprising 7,671,000 full-time workers (up 174,000); 3,604,000 part-time workers (down 50,000) and 1,369,000 looking for work (up 9,000) according to the Roy Morgan monthly employment estimates.

A further 936,000 Australians were under-employed – working part-time and looking for more work. This is 177,000 less than a month ago as students return to University after their Summer holidays and represents 7.4% of the workforce* (down 1.5%).

However what should concern the Government is that a large 2.305 million Australians (18.2% of the workforce) were unemployed or under-employed in March and while this is down 1.6% (168,000 less than last month) it is up a large 226,000 (1.0%) over the past 12 months since March 2012.

In March an estimated 715,000 Australians (up 66,000) were looking for full-time work, while 654,000 (down 57,000) are now looking for part-time work.

Generally, Roy Morgan figures rise sharply in the new year as school leavers join the search for work. Over subsequent months the rate falls just as quickly as the labour market absorbs the new entrants. The same pattern is still evident this March but not with sufficient strength to cause the rate to fall materially as in past years. This is another marginal indicator hinting at ongoing labour market softness.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.