Home topics news Source: Nicholas Cappello on Unsplash Economy News Economy Australia’s unemployment rate hits 13 year low Rhea Laxmi Nath March 17, 2022 Despite Omicron disruptions in the past few months, Australia’s unemployment figures in February 2022 have dropped to a 13-year low at 4 per cent. According to recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, employment increased by 77,000 new jobs last month. “This is the lowest unemployment rate since August 2008 and only the third time in the history of the monthly survey when unemployment was as low as 4.0 per cent (February 2008, August 2008, February 2022),” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS. The underutilisation rate, which combines the employment and underemployment rates, also dropped to the lowest level since 2008. It stands at 10. 6 per cent. ABS figures show that full-time employment in Australia increased by 121,900 while part-time employment shrank by 44,500 in February. It seems more people were looking for work, as Mr. Javis noted the participation rate rose to 66.4 per cent, an all-time high in the country. “Participation rose to a new record high in February and was around 0.6 percentage points higher than the start of the pandemic,” he said. Still, when it came down to the number of hours worked, the impact of the Omicron wave could be noticed. In February, there continued to be a higher-than-usual number of people working reduced or no hours due to illness or sick leave. “The number