Unemployment was 9.3% (unchanged since March 2012) — an estimated 1,149,000 Australians were unemployed and looking for work.
A further 8.2% (up 0.3%) of the workforce* were working part-time looking for more work (underemployed) — 1,010,000 Australians.
In total 17.5% (up 0.3%) of the workforce, or 2.16 million Australians, were unemployed or underemployed.
The Australian workforce* in April was at 12,307,000, (up from 12,093,000 in March, 2012 and up 515,000 since April 2011) — comprising 8,131,000 full-time workers (up 332,000 since April 2011); 4,176,000 part-time workers (up 183,000 since April 2011) and 1,149,000 looking for work (up 302,000 since April 2011).
The latest Roy Morgan unemployment estimate of 9.3% is now 4.1% above the 5.2% currently quoted by the ABS for March 2012.
So, no apparent change, which is not unusual for April. In 11 of the past 20 years, the RM April figure has fallen. The gap to the ABS remains historically wide, however.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
