Roy Morgan unemployment falls to pandemic low

Roy Morgan has released its unemployment estimate for June, with the nation’s unemployment rate falling to an equal pandemic low of 7.8% and underemployment falling to 8.5%:

Key changes are as follows:

• Unemployment in June fell 44,000 to 1.13 million Australians (7.8% of the workforce) while under-employment was down slightly by 13,000 to 1.23 million (8.5% of the workforce). Overall unemployment and under-employment fell 57,000 to 2.35 million (16.3% of the workforce).
• The workforce was up 78,000 in June driven by increasing employment: The workforce in June was 14,491,000 (up 78,000 from May) – comprised of 13,366,000 employed Australians (up 122,000) and 1,125,000 unemployed Australians looking for work (down 44,000).
• Rise in employment driven by increase in full-time employment: Australian employment increased by 122,000 to 13,366,000 in June driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 363,000 to 8,876,000. This represents a new all-time high for full-time employment during the first full month of the new Albanese Government. In contrast, part-time employment fell by 241,000 to 4,490,000 in June, falling back near to its level in April prior to the spike caused by the Federal Election during May.
• The strong rise in full-time employment led to the decline in unemployment in June: 1,125,000 Australians were unemployed (7.8% of the workforce), a decrease of 44,000 from May with fewer people looking for full-time work, down 68,000 to 409,000, while in contrast there was a small rise in those looking for part-time work, up 24,000 to 716,000.
• Under-employment was virtually unchanged down slightly in June at 1,226,000: In addition to the unemployed, 1,226,000 Australians (8.5% of the workforce) were under-employed – working part-time but looking for more work, down just 13,000 from May.
• In total 2,351,000 Australians (16.3% of the workforce) were either unemployed or under-employed in June, down 57,000 on May.
• Compared to early March 2020, before the nation-wide lockdown, in June 2022 there were almost 200,000 more Australians either unemployed or under-employed (+0.7% points) even though overall employment (13,366,000) is almost 500,000 higher than it was pre-COVID-19 (12,872,000).