Aussie unemployment hits RBA target

Thursday 15 May 2025

After Australia’s Q1 wage growth result was in line with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) forecasts, the April labour force report produced an unemployment rate broadly in line with expectations:

As summarised by Alex Joiner from IFM Investors below, the result was stronger than the headline suggests.

While the unemployment rate was steady at 4.1%, job growth was strong (+88,950 or 0.6%). However, the aggregate hours worked were flat.

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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.