Unemployment rate steady at 4.1% in September

The unemployment rate was steady at 4.1 per cent in September, in line with the revised figure for August, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said: “With employment rising by around 64,000 people and the number of unemployed falling around 9,000, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 per cent, where it has generally been over the past six months.”

Despite the slight fall in the number of unemployed people, the strong rise in employment saw the participation rate rise by 0.1 percentage point to a record high of 67.2 per cent.

“Employment has risen by 3.1 per cent in the past year, growing faster than the civilian population growth of 2.5 per cent. This has contributed to the increase in the employment-to-population ratio by 0.1 percentage point, and 0.4 percentage points over the past year, to a new historical high of 64.4 per cent.

“The record employment-to-population ratio and participation rate shows that there are still large numbers of people entering the labour force and finding work in a range of industries, as job vacancies continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels.

“While the number of unemployed people fell slightly to 616,000 in September, overall the number of unemployed people has risen by around 90,000 people since September 2023. Despite this rise over the last year, there are still around 93,000 fewer unemployed people than there were just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the unemployment rate was at 5.2 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said. 

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked rose by 0.3 per cent, slightly less than the 0.4 per cent rise in employment.

Growth in hours worked was stronger for males, up by 0.7 per cent, while hours worked for females fell 0.3 per cent. This was supported by male employment growing by 0.6 per cent, around double the 0.3 per cent increase in female employment.

The underemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 6.3 per cent. This was 0.1 percentage point lower than September 2023, and 2.4 percentage points lower than March 2020.

The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, fell 0.2 percentage points to 10.4 per cent. This remained well below the 13.9 per cent recorded in March 2020.

The trend unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 per cent for September, for the fourth month in a row.

In trend terms, employment grew by around 44,000 people (0.3 per cent), which was faster than the 20-year pre-pandemic average growth rate (0.2 per cent).

Hours worked grew 0.2 per cent, slightly slower than the growth in employment.

The employment-to-population ratio stayed at the historical high of 64.4 per cent, while the participation rate increased to a new record of 67.2 per cent.

The underemployment rate remained at 6.4 per cent. With the unemployment rate steady at 4.1 per cent, the resulting underutilisation rate also stayed at 10.5 per cent.

"The trend employment and participation measures are at an all-time high, while unemployment and underemployment measures are still low, especially compared with what we saw before the pandemic. This suggests the labour market continues to be relatively tight,” Mr Jarvis said.

More information will be available in the upcoming September 2024 issue of Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, on Thursday 24 October 2024, including modelled regional labour market data.

The ABS would like to thank Australians for their continued support in responding to our surveys.