According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, Australia’s unemployment rate climbed to 3.8% in March, surpassing expectations of 3.9% and marking an increase from the previous figure of 3.7%.
Additionally, the Australian Employment Change for March showed a decline of -6.6K, compared to a significant increase of 116.5K in February and falling short of the consensus forecast of 7.2K.
The participation rate in Australia also experienced a slight decrease, dropping to 66.6% in March from 66.7% in February. However, Full-Time Employment saw a notable increase of 27.9K, reaching 9,853,800 people in March compared to 79.4K in the previous reading. Conversely, Part-Time Employment decreased by 6.6K to 4,406,100 people in March, falling short of expectations for a rise of 7.2K.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics, provided insights into the data, stating, “With employment falling by around 7,000 people and the number of unemployed rising by 21,000 people, the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 per cent.” He further noted that despite the slight tightening of the labour market in March, both the employment-to-population ratio and participation rate remain relatively high compared to pre-pandemic levels, indicating ongoing resilience in the economy.
