Australia’s unemployment rate plummets to 4.2%

The ABS has just released labour market data for December, with Australia’s unemployment rate plummeting to 4.2% after creating 64,800 jobs:

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

“This is the lowest unemployment rate since August 2008, just before the start of the Global Financial Crisis and Lehman Brothers collapse, when it was 4.0 per cent. This is also close to the lowest unemployment rate in the monthly series – February 2008 – and for a rate below 4.0 we need to look back to the 1970’s when the survey was quarterly”.

Below are the key statistics for December 2021:

• Unemployment rate decreased to 4.2%.
• Participation rate remained at 66.1%.
• Employment increased to 13,242,000.
• Employment to population ratio increased to 63.3%.
• Underemployment rate decreased to 6.6%.
• Monthly hours worked increased by 18 million hours.

The result smashed analyst’s expectations of a 4.5% unemployment rate on 30,000 new jobs.

I’ll be back later with a detailed report.