Unemployment Rate Grows In Australia During January

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Unemployment Rate Grows In Australia During January

Unemployment Rate Grows In Australia During January

We finally have Australia's job market data which revealed an alarming rise in the unemployment rate. According to analysts, this increase in the unemployment rate has to do with seasonal disruptions and economic headwinds in Australia.

The total number of people who are employed in Australia decreased by 11500. As a result, only 13.7 million were employed in January. On the contrary, economists were expecting the Australian economy to add 20,000 new jobs.

3.7% Unemployment Rate In Australia

As per the data from the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics ), the current unemployment rate in Australia is 3.7%. And just last month (December), the unemployment rate was only 3.5%!

This means that an increase of 0.2% took place during the month of January. If we look at the previous data from ABS, the current unemployment rate was only last seen during June.

This job market report comes at a time when the Australian economy is troubled by high inflation and consecutive rate hikes.

As per the RBA, both of these factors had the ability to cause trouble in the job market in the near future. In addition, the central bank had also hinted how the chances of a soft landing are getting slim. So, in theory, the RBA already knew that something like this could happen in Australia's labor market.

According to experts, the current job market in Australia has decreased the legroom for the RBA to exercise its policy. As a result, the Australian Dollar (AUD) was down by 0.5% after the economic release.

For the most part, experts believe that the employment rate will further cool down after it has a strong run in 2022. And even though we saw an increase in the unemployment rate for January, the current levels are at a 50-year low.

In addition, the employed people in Australia were at record numbers during the latter half of 2022. According to ABS, the increase in the unemployment rate has to do with the seasonal trends in the country & is thus temporary.

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