Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 4.7% in September, unchanged from an upwardly revised August figure and above market expectations of 4.6%. This marked the highest jobless rate since October 2021, as the number of unemployed rose by 8,900 to 732,000, the highest level since April 2021.
Within this total, the number of full-time job seekers increased by 17,600 to 499,400, while the number of part-time job seekers declined by 8,600 to 232,700.
Overall employment unexpectedly fell by 39,300 to 14.78 million, defying forecasts of a 20,000 increase, after August’s previously reported gain was revised down to 29,300 jobs. Part-time employment dropped sharply by 73,700 to 4.55 million, while full-time employment rose by 34,400 to 10.23 million.
The labour force participation rate ticked down to 66.8% from 67.0% in August, remaining slightly above expectations but falling to its lowest level in four months. At the same time, the underemployment rate edged up to 6.3% from 6.2% in August.
Despite these shifts, total monthly hours worked across all jobs increased by 1 million, reaching 2.011 billion.
