Australia’s trend unemployment rate remained steady at 5.3 per cent in September 2019, according to the latest information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
“All of Australia’s key trend measures remained steady in September 2019, with the unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent and the participation rate at 66.2 per cent.” said ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman.
Employment and hours
In September 2019, trend monthly employment increased by around 20,200 people. Full-time employment increased by about 9,000 people and part-time employment increased by about 11,300 people.
Over the past year, trend employment increased by about 300,000 people (2.4 per cent), which continued to be above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (2.0 per cent). Full-time employment increased by 2.1 per cent and part-time employment increased by 2.9 per cent over the past year.
The trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.1 per cent in September 2019 and by 1.8 per cent over the past year. This was slightly above the 20 year average year-on-year growth of 1.7 per cent.
Annual Employment Change Over 20 Years (%)
Underemployment and underutilisation
The trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.4 per cent in September 2019, an increase of 0.1 percentage points over the past year. The trend monthly underutilisation rate remained steady at 13.7 per cent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the past year.
States and territories trend unemployment rate
The monthly trend unemployment rate remained steady in half of the states and territories in September 2019. Unemployment rate changes occurred in the Northern Territory (up 0.2 percentage points), Queensland and South Australia (up 0.1 percentage points) and Western Australia (down 0.1 percentage points).
Over the year, unemployment rates fell in Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, and increased in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Seasonally adjusted data
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by less than 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 per cent in September 2019, while the underemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.3 per cent. The seasonally adjusted participation rate decreased by less than 0.1 percentage points to 66.1 per cent, and the number of people employed increased by an estimated 14,700.
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.
