Unemployment rate falls to 4.0% in May

NEW data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 4.0 per cent in May.

Employment rose by around 40,000 people, and the number of unemployed fell by 9,000.

“In April we saw more unemployed people than usual waiting to start work. Some of the fall in unemployment and rise in employment in May reflects these people starting or returning to their jobs,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.

While the total number of unemployed people fell by 9,000 in May, this followed a 33,000 increase in April.

“There are now almost 600,000 unemployed people, however, that is still nearly 110,000 fewer people than in March 2020, just before the pandemic,” Mr Jarvis said.

The increase in employment and the fall in unemployment kept the seasonally adjusted employment-to-population ratio at 64.1 per cent and the participation rate at 66.8 per cent.

“The employment-to-population ratio and participation rate both continue to be much higher than their pre-pandemic levels. Together with elevated levels of job vacancies, this suggests the labour market remains relatively tight, though less than in late 2022 and early 2023,” Mr Jarvis said.

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked fell by 0.5 per cent, with more people working reduced hours due to illness.

“Similar to May 2023, around 4.2 per cent of people worked fewer hours because they were sick, compared with the pre-pandemic average for May of 3.5 per cent,” Mr Jarvis said.

The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate remained steady at 6.7 per cent in May 2024.

The latest Regional Movers Index showed that in 2022-23, Greater Geelong created 9,210 new jobs, bringing the total to 144,570.

Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said that while the figures did not reflect the challenges faced over the past year, they demonstrate the strength and diversity of the local economy.

“While the figures don’t reflect the challenges facing our region and the national economy over the past 12 months, the data does demonstrate how our diverse economy expanded and grew stronger.”

The ABS data revealed that while the underemployment rate has risen by 0.3 percentage points since May 2023, it remained 2.0 percentage points lower than March 2020.

The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, also remained steady at 10.7 per cent.

In trend terms, the unemployment rate rose to 4.0 per cent in May, up from a revised 3.9 per cent in April.

Employment grew by 39,000 people (0.3 per cent), faster than the 20-year pre-pandemic average (0.2 per cent).

The participation rate remained at 66.7 per cent for 12 consecutive months, well above the 65.6 per cent in March 2020.