Immigration collapse delivers Labour market goods

Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its labour market survey for June, which revealed that Australia’s unemployment rate fell 0.4% to its lowest level (3.5%) since August 1974, whereas the underemployment rate (6.1%) edged 0.3% higher. Labour underutilisation (i.e. unemployment and underemployment combined), fell to its lowest level since 1982:

Even though total employment surged by 88,400 in June, jobs growth remained below the pre-COVID trend:

However, full-time jobs are booming, up 7.0% over the pandemic versus a 0.6% fall in part-time jobs:

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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.