Australia’s unemployment rate holds in Sept. ’24

Australia’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 per cent in September 2024, in line with the revised figure for August, as per the latest seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday.

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, noted that despite a 64,000 increase in employment and a 9,000 decrease in unemployment, the rate remained at 4.1 per cent, consistent with the trend of the past six months.

Despite the decrease in unemployment, the significant increase in employment led to a 0.1 percentage point rise in the participation rate, reaching a record high of 67.2 per cent, the report showed.

Although the number of unemployed people fell slightly to 616,000 in September, it has risen by approximately 90,000 since September 2023. Despite this increase, the current unemployment rate remains below the pre-pandemic level of 5.2 per cent.

Attribution: The Australian Bureau of Statistics report

Subediting: M. S. Salama