Australian unemployment pushes higher

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released its labour force survey for November, which recorded a lift in Australia’s unemployment rate to 3.9% (from 3.7% initially reported for October), alongside a 0.2% increase in the underemployment rate to 6.5%:

This month’s rise in unemployment was mostly driven by a 0.2% rise in the labour force participation rate to a record high, with jobs growth actually strong at 61,500 for the month.

That said, the number of hours worked were flat over the month and have growth by far less than jobs growth over the year (i.e. 1.6% versus 3.2%).