Unemployment ticked up to 4.1 percent in January, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Head of Labour Statistics Bjorn Jarvis said employment rose by 44,000 people and the number of unemployed increased by 23,000, leading to the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rising by 0.1 percent last month.
“The rises in both the number of people employed and unemployed saw the participation rate rise by 0.1 percentage point, to a new record high of 67.3 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said.
“This was 0.8 percentage points higher than a year ago and 1.8 percentage points higher than March 2020.”
He said the number of employed people grew by 0.3 percent in January, the same pace as the average monthly rise in 2024, but higher than the average monthly population growth of 0.2 percent during 2024.
“Most of the rise in both employment and unemployment in January reflected rises for women, with female employment rising by 44,000 and unemployment by 24,000. In contrast, male employment and unemployment both changed by less than 1000 people.”
Mr Jarvis said some of the increase in unemployment reflected more people than usual with jobs in January who were waiting to start or return to work.
“As in the past three Januarys, in January 2025 we again saw more people than usual who had a job but were waiting to start or return to work,” he said.
