Australia’s trend unemployment rate decreased to 5.1 per cent in December 2019, according to the latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
This may be enough to stay the RBA’s hand in February, as the headline rate fell, and the jobs hours worked rose, though there was a disproportionate shift towards part-time work, and the underutilisation rate is also higher. In fact, the fall can be best linked to a falling participation rate as more chose not to work over the summer. So nothing here to really support signs of a stronger economy. Underutilisation among the 15-25’s is above 25%.
Employment and hours
In December 2019, trend monthly employment increased by around 18,000 people. Both full-time and part-time employment increased by around 9,000 people.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by around 261,000 people (2.1 per cent), which continued to be above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent).
Full-time employment growth (1.5 per cent) was below the average annual growth over the past 20 years (1.6 per cent) and part-time employment growth (3.2 per cent) was above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (3.0 per cent).
“While there has been stronger growth in part-time employment over the past year, the underemployment rate is still where it was last December, at 8.3 per cent,” said Mr Hockman.
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.2 per cent in December 2019 and by 1.7 per cent over the past year. This was in line with the 20 year average annual growth of 1.7 per cent.
Underemployment and underutilisation
The trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 per cent in December 2019, unchanged over the past year. The trend monthly underutilisation rate also remained steady at 13.5 per cent in December 2019, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the past year.
States and territories trend unemployment rate
The monthly trend unemployment rate increased in the Northern Territory, and decreased in Queensland and Tasmania in December 2019. The unemployment rate remained steady in all other states and the Australian Capital Territory.
Over the year, unemployment rates fell in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Unemployment rates increased in all other states and the Northern Territory.
Seasonally adjusted data
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.1 per cent in December 2019, while the underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 per cent. The seasonally adjusted participation rate remained steady at 66.0 per cent, and the number of people employed increased by around 29,000.
The net movement of employed in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms is underpinned by around 300,000 people entering and leaving employment in the month.
