Australian Bureau Of Statistics

Trend Unemployment Rate Steady At 5.1%

Victor P Taffa

Australia’s trend unemployment rate remained steady in January 2019 at 5.1 %, from a revised December 2018 figure, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

“Unemployment rate has remained at 5.1 % for a second month, supported by strong participation in the labour force, at 65.7 %.” ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said.

Employment And Hours

In January 2019, trend monthly employment increased by 24,900 persons. Full-time employment increased by 16,800 persons and part-time employment increased by 8,100 persons.

Over the past year, trend employment increased by 295,500 persons (2.4 %) which was above the average annual growth over the past 20 years (2.0 %).

Trend employment to population ratio, which shows how employed the population is, rose to a 10 year high of 62.4 %.

“15-64 year-old employment to population ratio reached a historical high of 74.1 %, with almost 3 of every 4 ‘working age’ Australians now employed.” Mr. Hockman said.

Trend monthly hours worked increased by 0.1 % in January 2019 and by 1.6 % over the past year. This was slightly below the 20-year average year-on-year growth of 1.7 %.

Trend monthly underemployment rate remained steady at 8.3 % and decreased by 0.3 percentage points over the year. The trend underutilisation rate also remained steady at 13.3 %, and decreased by 0.7 percentage points over the past year.

States And Territories

Trend unemployment rate increased in:

• South Australia,
• Western Australia,
• Tasmania.

Trend unemployment rate decreased in:

• New South Wales,
• Queensland.

Trend unemployment rate remained steady in:

• Victoria,
• Australian Capital Territory,
• Northern Territory.

Seasonally Adjusted Data

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 5.0 % in January 2019, and the underemployment rate decreased to 8.1 %. The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed increased by 39,100 persons.

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.