According to the figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au) Australia’s national seasonally adjusted estimate unemployment rate decreased to 6.4%. Participation rate decreased to 66.1% however employment increased to 12,939,900 people in January 2021. Underemployment rate decreased to 8.1%, with the number of monthly hours worked decreasing to 86 million hours.
Seasonally the WA unemployment rate is estimated at 6.2% which was a monthly change in rate of -0.1%. This was the fourth lowest rate of all states and territories behind Australian Capital Territory 4.4%, Tasmania 5.9% and New South Wales 6.0%. South Australia 7.1% and Queensland 7.0% have the nations highest rates for the month. Tasmania recorded the largest monthly change with its unemployment rate decreasing by 1.1%.
In seasonally adjusted terms, in January 2021, Full-time employment increased by 59,000 to 8,820,400 people, and part-time employment decreased by 29,800 to 4,119,500 people. Over the year to January 2021, full-time employment decreased by 62,900 people and part-time employment increased by 17,300 people. The part-time share of employment over the past 12 months, increased 0.2 pts to 31.8%.
Underemployment:
· The underemployment rate decreased by 0.4 pts to 8.1% (0.4 pts lower than a year ago)
· The underutilisation rate decreased by 0.6 pts to 14.5%
Participation:
· Decreased by 0.1 pts to 66.1%, and increased 0.1 pts over the year to January 2021
· Increased by 0.1 pts for men (to 71.2%) and decreased by 0.2 pts for women (to 61.2%)
Hours worked:
· Decreased by 86.0 million hours (4.9%) to 1,667 million hours
· Decreased by 5.7% over the year, larger than the 0.4% decrease in employed people
Reference: abs.gov.au Unemployment release 18 Feb 2021
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