Australian employment falls by 39,300 as jobless rate stays at 4.7%

Australia recorded an estimated fall of 39,300 in employment during September, Bureau of Statistics figures show. The jobless rate was unchanged at 4.7 per cent following a revision to the August result.

August's unemployment reading was previously 4.6 per cent. The revised figures leave seasonally adjusted unemployment at a post-COVID high, with September recording 8,900 more people officially unemployed.

Participation declined by 0.2 percentage points to 66.8 per cent, compared with 67 per cent in August. This measures how much of the population is working or actively searching for work.

The bureau's trend figures showed no change across several measures. Unemployment on that basis was 4.6 per cent, participation was 66.9 per cent and the employment-to-population ratio was 63.8 per cent. Hours worked were also unchanged.

For the September quarter, unemployment averaged 4.63 per cent. That was above the Reserve Bank's December-quarter forecast of 4.5 per cent.

JP Morgan's Tom Kennedy said the jobless rate had climbed 0.6 percentage points since interest rate increases began in February. Apart from COVID-related volatility, he said, the nine-month increase was the largest for more than a decade.