- New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed December 2020 unemployment figures decreased a modest 0.2 points on the previous month
- The shift takes Australia’s national unemployment rate from 6.8 per cent in November to 6.6 per cent for December
- A further 50,000 Australians also became employed over the festive season, bringing Australia’s total employed population to roughly 12.9 million
- Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said this latest data showed that the broad recovery in the labour market had continued through to the end of the year
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed December 2020 unemployment figures decreased a modest 0.2 points on the previous month.
The shift takes Australia’s national unemployment rate from 6.8 per cent in November to 6.6 per cent for December.
A further 50,000 also became classed as employed over the 2020 festive season, bringing Australia’s total employed population to 12,910,800.
The increase predominantly stems from Queensland, where employment percentages increased by 1.4 per cent.
The underemployment rate, representing those who are working below their qualifications or skillset also dropped 8.5 per cent month on month.
Youth unemployment also dropped 1.7 points to 13.9 per cent, but still represents an increase of 2.3 points over the year to December.
Australians clocked a further two million hours of work over the December period, illustrating a slight slow-down in recovery hours for the month at 0.1 per cent as people worked slightly less over the festive period.
Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said this latest data showed that the broad recovery in the labour market had continued through to the end of the year.
“Employment finished the year 0.7 per cent below the March level, having fallen 6.7 per cent, or 872,000 people, between March and May,” he explained.
“Although employment has recovered 90 per cent of the fall from March to May, the recovery in part-time employment has outpaced full-time employment. While part-time employment was higher than March, full-time employment was 1.3 per cent below March,” he added.
In a broader context, the unemployed population remains higher year on year at 32.1 per cent compared to December 2019, with 912,000 Australians classed as unemployed.