THE national unemployment rate has continued to fall to 6.7 percent in December, down 0.2 percentage points between November and December, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The number of employed people in Australia was 88,000 lower in December compared to March 2020, but was 784,000 higher than May. The 2020 unemployment rate peaked at 7.5 percent in July.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said this latest data showed that the broad recovery in the labour market had continued through to the end of the year.
“Employment finished the year 0.7 percent below the March level, having fallen 6.7 percent between March and May 2020 [after the pandemic hit].
“Although employment has recovered 90 percent of the fall from March to May, the recovery in part-time employment has outpaced full-time employment.
“The recovery in hours worked has been slower than the recovery in employment.”
The youth unemployment rate was also down, dropping 1.7 percentage points to 13.9 percent in December.
