Australia’s unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage points to 5.1 percent (seasonally adjusted) in August, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced today.
The ABS reports that the number of people unemployed decreased by 22,500 people to 607,700 in August.
The ABS unemployment data correlates with earlier job advertisement data from the ANZ for August. With the ANZ finding job ads in Australia 36.1 percent higher in August this year (seasonally adjusted). ANZ Job ads data showed an increase of 1.4 percent in July followed by a further increase in August of 2.6 percent, indicating employers are continuing to seek additional employees as they recover from the GFC.
In the ABS Labour force data, the number of people employed, increased by 30,900 people to 11.272 million(seasonally adjusted) in August. What is different from the July ABS data is the rise in employment was driven by an increase in full-time employment rather than part-time employment with an additional 53,100 people employed full time, taking the total full time employed to 7.920 million. Part-time employed fell by 22,100 people to 3.352 million.
The ABS seasonally adjusted monthly aggregate hours worked series showed a rise in August, up 14.8 million hours to 1,594.1 million hours on the back of the shift in employment from part, to full time during August.
ANZ Chief Economist Warren Hogan expects Australia’s unemployment rate to fall below the 5 percent mark for the first time since 2008.
“The pick up in job advertisements in recent months also suggests the unemployment rate is now likely to fall below 5 percent before year-end. This will provide solid support for Australian households. But it also has potential consequences for Australia’s already relatively high rate of inflation.”
