The unemployment rate has remained stable at 3.9 per cent for the second month in a row.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday revealed employment dropped by 65,000 while the number of unemployed Australians jumped by 1000, allowing the jobless rate to remain steady.
“The strength in employment in October and November and the fall in December, reflected changes in the timing of employment growth in the last few months of 2023, compared with earlier years,” ABS head of labour statistics David Taylor said.
“Both the unemployment and underemployment rates remained relatively low and the participation rate and employment-to-population ratio relatively high, suggesting that the labour market remains tight.”
It comes after a 0.1 percentage point increase in November that brought the unemployment rate to 3.9 per cent.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was focused on wrangling inflation.
“Having a three in front of the unemployment figure is very unusual,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“We are working on ways in which we can put that downward pressure on inflation whilst supporting employment.”
Source: AAP
