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As already reported, Australia’s unemployment rate rose 0.1% in August to 4.6% – close to the lowest reading since December 2008:
However. total jobs fell by 138,000 to 12,884,600 people in September, with part-time jobs declining 164,700, partly offset by a 26,700 increase in part-time jobs:
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The reason why the unemployment rate only rose 0.1% despite the heavy loss of jobs is because lockdowns caused an ever bigger fall in labour force participation, which slumped 0.7% to 64.5%:
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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.