Australian Economy

Thank no immigration for Australia’s roaring jobs market

Leith van Onselen
Friday 18 March 2022
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Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released net overseas migration (NOM) data for the September quarter of 2021, which revealed that Australia lost another 20,000 migrants over the quarter, taking total pandemic losses to 118,200:

Australia's net overseas migration

The ABS also released labour market data for February, which revealed that Australia’s unemployment rate (4.0%) and underemployment rate (6.6%) both fell to their lowest levels since 2008:

Australia's labour underutilisation
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While stimulus certainly prevented the economy from sliding into a deep recession, it has merely filled the hole left by COVID lockdowns/restrictions and has failed to put the economy on a higher trajectory. This is illustrated clearly by the fact that employment growth is tracking below the pre-COVID trend:

Australian employment

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.