Roy Morgan unemployment falls to 9.4% in June

Roy Morgan Research has released its labour market survey for June, which recorded an unemployment rate of 9.4% (down from 10.3% in May) and an underemployment rate of 8.5% (down from 8.6% in May). This was from a 305,00 increase in employment to a record high 13.37 million Australians:

• Australian employment increased by 305,000 to a record high of 13,374,000 in June including a record high 8,826,000 workers employed full-time, an increase of 147,000 from May and the eighth straight monthly increase. There was also an increase in part-time employment, up by 158,000 to 4,548,000.
• 1,394,000 Australians were unemployed (9.4% of the workforce), down 99,000 from May. Driving the fall was far fewer people looking for part-time work (down 111,000 to 824,000) but slightly more people looking for full-time work (up 12,000 to 570,000).
• The workforce in June was 14,768,000 – comprised of 13,374,000 employed Australians (an increase of 305,000) and 1,394,000 unemployed Australians looking for work (up 99,000).
• Compared to February 2020, before the nation-wide lockdown was implemented, in June 2021 there were over 200,000 more Australians either unemployed or under-employed (+2.3% points) even though overall employment (13,374,000) is now higher than it was pre-COVID-19 (12,913,000).

The below chart plots the recovery from COVID: