Australia’s unemployment steady at 4.1 pct in September

CANBERRA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — Australia’s unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1 percent in September as the economy added over 50,000 jobs.
Official labor force data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday revealed unemployment was at 4.1 percent in September, in line with the August figure, which was initially reported as 4.2 percent by the ABS but was revised down on Thursday.
The ABS reported that the economy added 64,100 jobs between August and September, including 51,600 full-time jobs. For the first time in history, the number of people employed full-time in Australia surpassed 10 million in September.
The employment-to-population ratio increased from 64.3 percent in August to an equal-record high of 64.4 percent in September.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population who are either employed or actively looking for work, increased to a new record high of 67.2 percent.
“Employment has risen by 3.1 percent in the past year, growing faster than the civilian population growth of 2.5 percent,” Bjorn Jarvis, head of labor statistics at the ABS, said in a statement.
“The record employment-to-population ratio and participation rate show that there are still large numbers of people entering the labor force and finding work in a range of industries, as job vacancies continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels.”
The total number of hours worked by Australians increased 0.3 percent between August and September to 1.968 billion.
Responding to the data, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement posted on social media that the figures showed 1 million jobs have been created since the current government won power in 2022. ■