Australia’s unemployment rate fell slightly last month, down 0.1 per cent after the economy added 40,000 new jobs.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics put the jobless rate for May at 4 per cent, down from April’s measure of 4.1 per cent.
“With employment rising by around 40,000 people and the number of unemployed falling by 9000 people, the unemployment rate fell to 4.0 per cent,” ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said.
“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.
“While the total number of unemployed people fell by 9000 in May, this followed a 33,000 increase in April. Unemployment was around 24,000 people more than in March, an average increase of around 12,000 people each month.
“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.”
