Unemployment rate remained at 4.3% in November
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The news: The unemployment rate remained at 4.3% in November, slightly tighter than had been expected by economists.
Consensus expectations were for the unemployment rate to lift by 0.1 percentage point to 4.4% and about 20,000 jobs to be added at a roughly unchanged participation rate of 67%.
The numbers: The number of unemployed people fell by 2,000 while the number of employed fell by 21,000.
Full-time employment fell by about 57,000 people but this was partially offset by an increase in part-time employment by about 35,000 people.
The underemployment rate and underutilisation rates both rose by 0.4 percentage points to 6.2% and 10.5% respectively.
The participation rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 66.7%. Hours worked remained flat on a month to month basis but increased by 1.2% year on year.
The context: The RBA’s most recent monetary policy board statement on Tuesday flagged that “various indicators suggest that labour market conditions remain a little tight”, although it acknowledged that the unemployment rate has risen gradually over the past year and that employment growth had slowed.
However, going into the new year, RBA governor Michele Bullock said she does not foresee interest rate cuts on the horizon, with the board considering the conditions for a rate hike amid inflationary pressures as the Australian economy runs near full capacity.
What they said: “The unemployment rate has remained at 4.3 per cent in five of the last six months,” ABS head of labour statistics Sean Crick said.
The source: ABS media release
