Australia lost 146,300 jobs in August on lockdowns

Thursday 16 September 2021

The ABS has released its August labour market survey, which reported a 146,300 decline in jobs but a 0.1% reduction in the headline unemployment rate to 4.5% off a big 0.8% fall in participation:

The number of hours worked also dived by 3.7% and the underemployment rate rose by 1.0% to 9.3%.

According to Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS:

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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.