Australian Unemployment Falls

Unemployment

Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5.6% in November to 5.5% in December, a better performance than other advanced economies.

International Unemployment Rates

• Australia 5.5%

• New Zealand 6.5%

• UK 7.9%

• Canada 8.5%

• USA 10.0%

Employment

The number of employed people rose by 35,200 in December.

ABS Graph: The Number of People Employed in Australia, December 2009

• 7,300 of the jobs were full-time and 27,900 were part-time.

• There are now 10.906 million people employed in Australia

• The number of people employed in Australia has been growing now for four months.

• The negative effects of the global economic downturn have been less evident in Australia than in many other economies.

Australian State Unemployment

The unemployment rate fell in all of Australia’s states.

ABS Graph: Australian Unemployment Rate, December 2009

• New South Wales’ rate fell to 5.9% in December from 6% in November.

• Victoria’s fell to 5.2% from 5.4%.

• Queensland’s fell to 5.9% from 6.1%

• Western Australia’s fell to 5.1% from 5.2%

• South Australia’s fell to 5.3% from 5.5%

These latest unemployment figures reinforce the most recent recruitment advertising data from the ANZ bank showing Australian job prospects are improving.