Thursday 16 June 2022

Unemployment bottoms out at 3.9pc

Strong payrolls

Very good numbers for May, with full-time employment rising by around 70,000, and employment at a record high.

I previously wrote in a report somewhere that employment could hit a record high of 13½ million this year - I didn't consider that it might happen by May, though!

Queensland has added a thunderous +124,000 employed over the past year, and the state's unemployment rate is now just 4 per cent. 


The participation rate also surged to a new high of 66.7 per cent, and the unemployment rate sneaked higher from 3.86 per cent to 3.90 per cent. 


More than 780,000 Aussies worked fewer hours than normal due to illness, and there was plenty of disruption from flooding over the past couple of months.

Under-utilisation fell to a 4-decade low.

Overall, a strong set of numbers that sees the economy still powering on in May.

Consumer confidence has crashed to 1991 levels, so although there is clearly still some momentum, things may start to fall apart a bit henceforth.