Sydney, Sep 18 (IANS) Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent in August despite a fall in full-time employment.
Official labour force figures published on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that the unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent in August, matching the figure for July.
According to the ABS, the total number of employed Australians fell by 5,400 between July and August, but increased by 217,200 over the last 12 months.
It said that full-time employment decreased by 40,900 people between July and August, which was partially offset by an increase of 35,500 in the number of Australians employed part-time, reports Xinhua news agency.
It comes after the number of Australians employed full-time increased by 60,500 between June and July.
Thursday’s figures showed that the labour force participation rate and employment-to-population ratio each fell by 0.1 percentage point between July and August to 66.8 per cent and 64.0 per cent, respectively.
Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said that the total number of hours worked by Australians was 0.4 per cent lower in August than in July due to the drop in full-time employment.
Earlier in June, Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 4.3 per cent, the highest level in almost four years. Since then, it has remained steady.
June marked the highest unemployment rate since November 2021 and the first time in 2025 that the figure has changed from 4.1 per cent after five consecutive steady months, the ABS said.
The Australian Associated Press reported that financial markets had expected unemployment to remain steady for a sixth consecutive month at 4.1 per cent in June.
According to the ABS, employment rose by 2,000 people between May and June, but the number of unemployed people rose by 33,600 in the same period.
The number of Australians employed on a part-time basis grew by 40,000 between May and June, the ABS said, while full-time employment fell by 38,000 people.
As a result, the total number of hours worked by Australians was 0.9 per cent lower in June than in May.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, rose from 67.0 per cent in May to 67.1 per cent in June.
–IANS
int/sd/
