2021.10.1401:15:00UTC+00Australia Jobless Rate Rises To 4.6% In September

The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

That was up from 4.5 percent in August, although it was shy of expectations for 4.8 percent.

The Australian economy lost 138,000 jobs last month to 2,884,600 - slightly worse than forecasts for the loss of 137,500 jobs following the loss of 146,300 jobs in August.

Full-time employment added 26,700 jobs last month to 8,983,200 following the loss of 68,000 in August. Part-time jobs lost 164,700 to 3,901,400 following the loss of 78,200 jobs a month earlier.

The participation rate tumbled to 64.5 percent, missing forecasts for 64.7 percent and down sharply from 65.2 percent in the previous month. The rate decreased by 0.8 pts for men to 69.3 percent and by 0.5 pts for women to 60.0 percent.

The employment to population ratio decreased to 61.5 percent, while the underemployment rate decreased to 9.2 percent. Monthly hours worked increased by 15 million hours.

The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 pts to 4.6 percent, while the unemployment rate was 0.6 pts lower than March 2020. Unemployed people increased by 8,900 to 626,000, while unemployed people was 97,200 lower than March 2020. The youth unemployment rate increased by 0.2 pts to 10.8 percent, while the youth unemployment rate was 0.7 pts lower than March 2020

The employment-to-population ratio fell by 0.7 pts to 61.5 percent and was lower than March 2020 by 0.8 pts.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased by 15.0 million hours (0.9 percent) to 1,729 million hours but decreased by 36.0 million hours (2.0 percent) from March 2020.