The ABS has released labour market data for February, which revealed that Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 5.8% (from 6.3% in January) following strong jobs growth of 88,700:
Key statistics
Seasonally adjusted estimates for February 2021:
Unemployment rate decreased to 5.8%.
Participation rate remained at 66.1%.
Employment increased to 13,006,900.
Employment to population ratio increased to 62.3%.
Underemployment rate increased to 8.5%.
Monthly hours worked increased by 102 million hours.
Employment levels also recovered to their pre-COVID level:
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According to Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS:
“The strong employment growth this month saw employment rise above 13 million people, and was 4,000 people higher than March 2020.
“Full-time employment increased by 89,000 people, of which 69,000 were women. Female full-time employment was 1.8 per cent higher than March 2020, while male full-time employment was 0.8 per cent below”…
“Hours worked increased across all of the states and territories, except for in Western Australia, where hours were affected by the lockdown in the first week of February”…
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.
