Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 4.2% in August as part-time workers replaced full-timers in the workforce, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Head of Labour Statistics Sean Crick said employment fell by 5,000 people and unemployment dropped by 1,000 as the participation rate, which measures working-age Australians employed or looking for work, eased by 0.1 percentage points to 66.8%.
He said full-time employment dropped by 40,900 people to 10,077,300 while part-time employment rose by 35,500 to 4,549,200 as employment dropped to 14,626,500, all seasonally adjusted.
The number of women working dropped by about 30,000, while 11,000 men joined the unemployment queue of 647,400 people.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment figure in August was the same as in July and up from 4.1% in August 2024.
Part-time employment rose by 18,000 for women and 17,000 for men.
“Hours worked fell 0.4 per cent in August, supported by less people working full-time hours this month,” Crick said in a media release.
The employment to population ratio decreased to 64.0% in August from 64.2% in July, and the underemployment rate decreased to 5.7% from 5.9%.
Labour force data is among the information assessed by the Reserve Bank of Australia as it considers whether and when to lower the official cash interest rate, which is 3.6%.
