The South Australian seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is at the Australian average – 3.9 per cent – in November, falling 0.3 percentage points in the month.
Underemployment also fell by 0.2 points to 7.3 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
South Australia has the highest rate of underemployment in the nation, equal to Tasmania, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data.
Nationally, employment rose by 36,000 people and the number of unemployed decreased by 27,000 people.
“In November we saw a higher than usual number of people moving into employment who were unemployed and waiting to start work in October. This contributed to the rise in employment and fall in unemployment,” ABS head of labour statistics David Taylor said.
“The participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 67.0 per cent in November, from the historic high of 67.1 per cent in September.
“Despite the fall, the participation rate was the same as a year ago, and 1.5 percentage points higher than March 2020.”
Taylor added that recent population growth boosted the labour supply, and employment kept up with population growth.
The surprise tightening of the Australian jobs market could detract from the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates at its next board meeting in February.
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The RBA in their November statement on monetary policy forecast the unemployment rate to average 4.3 per cent in the fourth quarter.
Chances of rates going lower at the first meeting of 2025 had improved before the ABS data announcement, following the central bank’s dovish pivot in December.
– with AAP
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