SA unemployment equal lowest in the nation
The jobless rate in South Australia fell the furthest of all states and territories in August to be the equal lowest nationally alongside Western Australia and the ACT.
New labour force figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed South Australian unemployment was the equal lowest in the country at 3.9 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
That represents a fall of 0.4 percentage points in August 2024 – the largest drop of all states and territories.
Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory also recorded an unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The state with the highest rate of unemployment in August was Victoria, at 4.5 per cent. Nationally, the unemployment rate was steady at 4.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, South Australian underemployment is the worst in the country at 7.6 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis – up 0.5 percentage points from July.
ABS head of labour statistics Kate Lamb said the number of unemployed people in Australia fell by around 10,000, while the number of employed grew by 47,000.
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“This resulted in the unemployment rate remaining steady at 4.2 per cent and the participation rate remaining at its record high of 67.1 per cent,” Lamb said.
“The growth in employment increased the employment-to-population ratio by 0.1 percentage point to 64.3 per cent, which is just below the November 2023 historical high of 64.4 per cent.
“The high employment-to-population ratio and participation rate shows that there are still large numbers of people entering the labour force and finding work, as employers continue to look to fill a more than usual number of job vacancies.”
Anders Magnusson, partner, BDO Economics, said today’s jobs figures tell a “nuanced story of the current economic landscape”, with SA unemployment decreasing by 4500 people in August as 1500 jobs were added to the economy.
“South Australia’s unemployment rate tends to be higher than on the east coast due to persistently higher youth and long-term unemployment, and an older population. That is not the case right now,” Magnusson said.
“South Australia enjoyed substantial growth in the labour market once the restrictions imposed by the pandemic were lifted. However, as the flow of migrants returns to trend, our workforce shortages are likely to continue and worsen.
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“In addition, our ageing population will put further pressure on the healthcare workforce. Given our pipeline of infrastructure, defence and renewable energy projects, South Australia might re-enter a labour-constrained period of low-growth.”
Nationally, Magnusson said changes to labour supply were having an impact on the market.
“The labour market continues to soften in line with the RBA’s December quarter forecasts, with underemployment slowly increasing while job vacancies have been declining and the number of Australians holding multiple jobs has been decreasing,” he said.
“Flat household spending is not the sole driver of this softening. Changes to labour supply are also having an impact.
“The record-high participation rate is a notable highlight. The dynamics of the post-COVID world are contributing to this through increased workplace flexibility and more people, especially women, securing full-time employment.”
A “soft landing for our economy is likely”, Magnusson said, but noted that interest rate cuts were still some time off.
“Considering the underlying forces in the labour market and BDO’s forecasted persistent underlying inflation, I think it is unlikely that the RBA will implement interest rate cuts until 2025 to avoid any possible spike in inflation triggered by increased household spending,” he said.
Nationally, the underemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 6.5 per cent – 0.1 percentage points lower than August 2023, and 2.2 percentage points lower than March 2020.
Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked rose by 0.4 per cent across the country, with the proportion of people working reduced hours because they were sick coming in above pre-pandemic levels, according to Lamb.
“However, the proportion of people working less hours than usual due to economic reasons, such as no work or less work available, is below pre-pandemic levels, which points to continued relative tightness in the labour market,” Lamb said.
