Jobs and Unemployment post first unpredicted decline

Friday December 18, 2009

In a surprise twist for the Australian jobs industry, the national unemployment rate has posted its first decline with the figure of 5.7 per cent for November, down 1 per cent from 5.8 per cent in October, based on latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This has surprised many industry experts and economists who had been predicted another increase of one per cent. This correlates to the economy having added 31,200 jobs in November with a massive 30,800 classed as full-time positions, leaving the number of people employed in Australia at 10.868 million, seasonally adjusted.

Other significant findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics include:

• number of people unemployed decreased by 13,300 in November, now at 653,100
• monthly aggregate hours worked series showed a rise to 1,536.3 million hours in November, up 13.4 million hours (0.9 per cent)
• participation rate in November was 65.2 per cent, seasonally adjusted
• labour force underutilisation rate was 13.5 per cent in November, down 0.1 per cent from August, seasonally adjusted

The results have gone against what many had predicted with potential figures being rated as high as 8.5 per cent by the Federal Government and economist predicting 6.5 per cent for the new year.

State and territory results:

Victoria - down from 5.7 per cent in October to 5.4 per cent
New South Wales - down from 6.1 per cent to 6 per cent
South Australia - a surprising rise from 5.3 per cent to 5.5 per cent
Queensland - up from 6 per cent to 6.1 per cent unemployment
Western Australia - up from 5 per cent to 5.2 per cent
Tasmania - steady 5.4 per cent

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