RM unemployment falls on discouraged workers

Thursday 6 November 2014

Roy Morgan Research (RMR) has also released its unemployment estimate for the month of October, which registered a large drop in the unemployment rate to 9.1% from 9.9% in September. It was is the lowest unemployment rate since May 2012 (see next chart).

While the headline result appears encouraging, the detail is not. The fall in the unemployment rate was caused by a large contraction in the workforce (i.e. a big fall in the participation rate), which more than offset a reduction in total employment (down 97,000 over the month, driven by part-time). Gary Morgan explains:

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.