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Unemployment held at 4.1 per cent and the participation rate reached a record high.
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Strong jobs growth of 64k powers past estimates
18 October 2024
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The labour market is defying predictions of a slowdown after 64,000 jobs were added last month and workforce participation reached a record high.
The strong growth in employment and the labour force kept the unemployment rate steady at 4.1 per cent in September, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Of the 64,000 new jobs created, 51,600 were full-time roles while 12,500 were part-time, blowing past economists’ predictions of a 25,000 net gain.
The number of unemployed people also fell by around 9,000 and the record-high labour market participation rate increased to 67.2 per cent.
AMP economist My Bui said analysts predicted the jobs market to slow down in September after about half a year of strong growth.
“Employment growth in Australia surprised to the upside for the sixth consecutive month, rising by a whopping 64,000 over the month of September, while economists expected a smaller 25,000 rise after many months of strong growth,” Bui said.
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It meant the RBA would “likely retain its current hawkish position until next year”.
BDO economics partner Anders Magnusson said cost-of-living pressures had contributed to the high participation rate.
“Cost-of-living pressures continue to prompt more people to look for work contributing to the record high participation rate,” he said.
“Household spending has been flat lately, so this employment growth is likely supported by public sector demand.”
He expected the RBA would not be “too concerned” about the results and instead focus on inflation data due in a few weeks.
According to ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis, the labour market was outpacing the 20-year growth rate before the pandemic.
“The trend employment and participation measures are at an all-time high, while unemployment and underemployment measures are still low, especially compared with what we saw before the pandemic,” he said.
“This suggests the labour market continues to be relatively tight.”
The employment rate also rose by 3.1 per cent in the past year, outpacing the civilian population growth rate of 2.5 per cent.
“This has contributed to the increase in the employment-to-population ratio by 0.1 percentage point, and 0.4 percentage points over the past year, to a new historical high of 64.4 per cent,” he said.
“The record employment-to-population ratio and participation rate shows that there are still large numbers of people entering the labour force and finding work in a range of industries, as job vacancies continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels.”
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