Australia’s unemployment rate has dipped below 4 percent as a “higher than usual” number of unemployed people found work in November.
Th latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percent to 3.9 percent last month.
ABS Head of Labour Statistics David Traylor said employment rose by 36,000 people and the number of unemployed decreased by 27,000.
“In November we saw a higher than usual number of people moving into employment who were unemployed and waiting to start work in October,” Mr Taylor said.
“This contributed to the rise in employment and fall in unemployment.”
He said employment grew 0.2 percent in November 2024, following an average monthly rise of 0.3 percent since the middle of 2024, in line with recent population growth.
“The participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 67.0 per cent in November, from the historic high of 67.1 per cent in September. Despite the fall, the participation rate was the same as a year ago, and 1.5 percentage points higher than March 2020.”
Mr Taylor said the employment to population ratio rose marginally to 64.4 percent, equal to the level a year ago and 2.2 percentage points above the pre-pandemic level.
“The recent growth in population has boosted the labour supply as employment has kept up with population growth.”
Mr Taylor said the underemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 6.1 percent in November.
He said this was 0.6 percentage points lower than November 2023, and 2.6 percentage points lower than March 2020.
“The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, dropped 0.3 percentage points to 10 percent. This is 3.9 percentage points lower than March 2020.”
