Australia’s jobless rate ticks up in Dec. ’24

The Australian unemployment rate rose 0.1 per cent in December 2024, according to seasonally-adjusted data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday.

“With employment rising by 56,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 10,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 4.0 per cent,” Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said.

The report showed that employment increased by 0.4 per cent in December 2024, surpassing the average monthly growth of 0.3 per cent for the year and outpacing the population growth rate of 0.2 per cent per month.

The employment-to-population ratio reached a new record of 64.5 per cent, up by 0.1 percentage point. This is 0.5 percentage points higher than a year ago and 2.3 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: M. S. Salama