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- New data from the ABS shows the number of hours worked by Australians fell by 8.8 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022, though the unemployment rate remained at 4.2 per cent
- This was largely driven by high COVID number in many parts of the country, though more Australians than usual also took annual leave over the first two weeks of January
- The ABS says this year, the number of people working reduced hours because they were sick was around three times the national average for January
- More than one in five businesses say they had staff who were unable to work due to COVID-19-related issues
- Nevertheless, despite the fall in hours worked around the country, employment in January 2022 still increased by 13,000 people, with flows into employment still outpacing flows out of employment
The number of hours worked by Australians fell by 8.8 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022, though the unemployment rate remained at 4.2 per cent, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS said seasonally adjusted work hours typically fell in January due to people taking annual leave over the festive season, but January 2022 saw a more pronounced dip than previous years — likely driven by high COVID numbers in many parts of the country.
Yet, while more people took sick leave in January this year than last, more people also took annual leave, according to ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis.
“Last year, in January 2021, the large 4.9 per cent fall in hours worked mainly reflected more people than usual taking annual leave. At that time, there were relatively low number of active cases of COVID and only localised impacts,” Mr Jarvis said.
“While we again saw higher than usual numbers of people taking leave — even more so than last year — the 8.8 per cent fall in hours worked in January 2022 also reflected much higher than usual numbers of people on sick leave.”
This echoes a report last week from the ABS that more than one in five businesses said they had staff who were unable to work due to issues related to COVID-19.
This data is also supported by Commonwealth Bank research from January that estimated one million people were in isolation at any given time around Australia due to quarantine rules for positive Omicron cases and close contacts.
Mr Jarvis said nationally, and particularly in New South Wales and Victoria, the number of people working reduced hours because they were sick was around three times the national average for January.
“In other states and territories, it was twice as many people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the number of people around the country working no hours at all in a week because they were sick was four times the pre-pandemic average.
“January is the middle of summer and usually only around 90,000 to 100,000 people in Australia are away from work sick for an entire week,” Mr Jarvis said. “In January 2022 it was around 450,000 people (3.4 per cent of employed people).”
This is also far above the average for winter months, when typically between 140,000 and 170,000 people don’t work for an entire week due to illness.
Western Australia was the only state that has a usual low number of people working reduced hours in January as Premier Mark McGowan continued to employ a zero-COVID approach and kept WA borders closed.
Nevertheless, the ABS said despite the fall in hours worked around the country, employment in January 2022 still increased by 13,000 people, with flows into employment still outpacing flows out of employment.
The underemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 6.7 per cent in January — 2.1 percentage points lower than in March.
