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On Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released labour market data for March, which revealed that Australia’s unemployment rate (4.0%) and underemployment rate (6.3%) both fell to fresh 14-year lows:
While stimulus certainly prevented the economy from sliding into a deep recession, it has merely filled the hole left by COVID lockdowns/restrictions and has failed to put the economy on a higher trajectory. This is illustrated clearly by the fact that employment growth is tracking below the pre-COVID trend:
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However, full-time jobs are booming, up 4.3% over the pandemic versus a 0.4% rise in part-time jobs:
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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.