Australia’s Unemployment Rate Rises to 3.8 Percent

Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent in March 2024, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on April 18. This is 0.1 percent higher than February’s rate, and 0.1 percent below what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Treasury predicted last month. While the total number of full-time employees increased to 9.9 million as 27,900 full-time jobs were added, the economy lost 34,500 part-time positions, bringing the part-time employment count down to 4.4 million people. This net job loss of 6,600 employees and the number of unemployed people surging to 20,600 people prompted the small drop in employment in March. Employment flows have been volatile in recent months: the larger-than-usual flow of employment in February, which included a surprising increase of 116,500 jobs, was preceded by smaller-than-usual flows in January and December. However, this returned to a more usual pattern in March....