The first labor force and household economy breakdowns of 2022.
Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), LABOR FORCE: Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey, January 2022 – released 17 February 2022:
Key statistics
Seasonally adjusted estimates for January 2022:
Unemployment rate stood at 4.2%
580,000 unemployed - up from 574,400 in December 2021.
Participation rate increased to 66.2%
Up from 66.1% in December 2021. However, participation decreased by 0.4 pts for men to 70.4% and increased by 0.6 pts to 62.1% for women
Employment increased to 13,255,000
An increase of 12,900 people or 0.1% since December 2021.
Full-time employment decreased by 17,000 to 9,077,300 people, and part-time employment increased by 30,000 to 4,177,600 people. Part time employed made up 31.5% of all employment.
Employment to population ratio increased to 63.4%
Up 0.3% since December 2021.
Underemployment rate increased to 6.7%
Up from 6.6% in December 2021.
Monthly hours worked decreased by 159 million hours
A decrease of 8.8% (in seasonally adjusted terms) between December 2021 and January 2022.
In New South Wales in January 2022
Unemployment rate stood at 4.2%
Up 0.2% from December 2021
Participation rate stood at 64.8%
A 0.2% fall since December 2021.
Employment stood at 4,137,200
A 0.2% fall since December 2021.
Full time employment fell by 27,100 people and part time employment fell by 42,100 people. Part time employment made up est. 29% of all employment.
Employment to population ratio fell to 58.2%
Down from 58.4% since December 2021.
Underemployment rate increased to 6.4%
Up from 6.2% in December 2021.
Monthly hours worked deceased by est. 78.18 million hours.
Going from 578,333.6 hours in December 2021 to 500,148.7 hours in January 2022.
ANZ Job Ads report, 7 February 2022:
ANZ Australian Job Ads fell 0.3 per cent in January following a downwardly revised 5.8 per cent drop in December. Despite the surge in Omicron cases, Job Ads remained 9.6 per cent above the Delta-lockdown lows.
Based on ABS, Cost Price Index - Weighted average of eight capital cities, All groups - going into January 2022:
In December Quarter 2021 the Cost Price Index totalled 121.3 - a rise of 1.3% on the September Quarter. The 5 Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) having risen for all 5 household types.
In the period 1 January to 31 December 2022 the LCI rise across all categories was between 2.6% and 3.4%:
- Transport was the main contributor for all five population sub-groups, with the price of Automotive fuel rising 32%.
- The Age pensioner household sub-group had the highest annual increase (+3.4%). Food makes up a higher proportion of this sub-group compared to the others. This household group also had the highest annual increase in housing costs.
- The Employee household sub-group had the lowest annual increase (+2.6%) due to Mortgage interest charges falling over the year. Excluding Mortgage interest charges, this household group would have risen 3.1%.
Based on ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence:
17-23 January 2022
Australia - 101.1 up 2.2%, rising above the neutral level of 100 but dropping in NSW by -2.4%.
14-30 January 2022
Australia - 101.8 up 1.7% and, after three weeks of decline in NSW state consumer confidence rose to 6.2%.
