Australia’s employment rises 39.7k, labor market remains relatively tight

Australia’s labor market demonstrated resilience in May, with employment increasing by 39.7k, slightly surpassing expectations of 39.0k. Full-time jobs saw a significant rise of 41.7k, while part-time jobs experienced a slight decline of -2.1k.

Unemployment rate decreased from 4.1% to 4.0%, aligning with market forecasts. Key labor metrics, such as the employment-to-population ratio and the participation rate, remained steady at 64.1% and 66.8%, respectively. However, monthly hours worked dipped by -0.5% on a month-over-month basis.

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labor statistics, highlighted that the number of unemployed people, though nearing 600k, is still about 110k fewer than in March 2020, before the pandemic.

Additionally, both the employment-to-population ratio and participation rate are significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. Jarvis pointed out that these factors, along with sustained high job vacancy levels, indicate that the labor market “remains relatively tight, though less so than in late 2022 and early 2023.”

Full Australia employment data release here.