The latest Labor Force Australia: Headline estimates of employment, unemployment, underemployment, participation and hours worked from the monthly Labour Force Survey was released on Thursday, 18 May 2023.
This survey reveals that:
In seasonally adjusted terms, in April 2023:
unemployment rate increased to 3.7%.
participation rate decreased to 66.7%.
employment decreased to 13,882,100.
employment to population ratio decreased to 64.2%.
underemployment rate decreased to 6.1%.
monthly hours worked increased to 1,974 million.
full-time employment decreased by 27,100 to 9,726,500 people.
part-time employment increased by 22,800 to 4,155,600 people.
REGIONAL ESTIMATES COVERING THE NORTHERN RIVERS REGION IN APRIL 2023:
Employed Full-Time — 40,100 persons
Employed Part-Time — 28,100 persons
Unemployed Total — 2,800 persons
Not in the Labour Force — 55,100 persons
Unemployment rate for 15-64 years of age — 4%
Youth Unemployment Rate 15-24 years — 6.3%.
Employed Full-Time — 79,800 persons
Employed Part-Time — 50,400 persons
Unemployed Total — 3,600 persons
Not in the Labour Force — 86,500 persons
Unemployment Rate for 15-64 years of age — 2.7%
Youth Unemployment Rate 15-24 years — 5.4%.
NOTE: NSW regional estimates for all SA4 employment areas in April 2023 can be found at:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), media release, 18 May 2023:
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point (rounded) to 3.7 per cent in April, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, said: "with employment dropping by around 4,000 people and the number of unemployed increasing by 18,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 per cent.”
“The small fall in employment followed an average monthly increase of around 39,000 people during the first quarter of this year.”
Similarly, the employment-to-population ratio fell 0.2 percentage points to 64.2 per cent and the participation rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to 66.7 per cent.
“Even with these falls, both indicators were still well above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels and close to their historical highs in 2022,” Mr Jarvis said.
Hours worked
Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked increased by 2.6 per cent in April.
“This was because fewer people than usual worked reduced hours over the Easter period,” Mr Jarvis said.
“The last time Easter and the survey period aligned like this was in 2015, when around 60 per cent of employed people worked fewer hours than usual. This Easter it was only around 55 per cent of employed people.
“This may reflect more people taking their leave earlier or later than usual, or that some people were unable to, given the high number of vacancies that we’re still seeing employers reporting….
Underemployment and underutilisation
The underemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 6.1 per cent (seasonally adjusted), following a 0.4 percentage point increase in March.
"The underemployment rate is still low in historic terms, around 2.6 percentage points lower than before the pandemic, and underpinned by faster growth in hours worked than employment," Mr Jarvis said.
The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, rose slightly to 9.8 per cent, and remained 4.2 percentage points lower than in March 2020.
NOTE:
The
April survey reference period was from 2 April to 15 April 2023.
The May survey reference period is from 30 April to 13 May 2023.
