More people looking for work as unemployment rises

Seasonally adjusted employment fell by 46,000 people (0.4 per cent) in October 2021, while participation increased (0.1 percentage points) according to the ABS and were influenced by school holidays, and changes to restrictions associated with lockdowns during the reporting period between 26 September and 9 October.

“As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, the changes in the labour markets with lockdowns continued to have a large influence on the national figures,” Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS said.

Mr Jarvis said NSW had recovered earlier than other states with the employment participation rate increasing by 0.8 percentage points with increases in both employment (22,000) and unemployment (35,000).

The labour force in NSW increased by around 57,000 people, but was still 218,000 people lower than in May.

Victoria’s unemployment also increased, by 29,000 people, but in contrast to NSW, employment fell by a further 50,000, and the participation rate fell by 0.4 percentage points with the Victorian labour force, 113,000 people lower than in May.

The reporting period also saw the first rise in the national participation rate since June 2021, up by 0.1 percentage points to 64.7 per cent in October that reflects a large increase in unemployment (82,000 people).

“The increases in unemployment show that people were preparing to get back to work, and increasingly available and actively looking for work – particularly in NSW, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. This follows what we have seen towards the end of other major lockdowns, including the one in Victoria late last year,” Mr Jarvis said.

“It may seem counterintuitive for unemployment to rise as conditions are about to improve. However, this shows how unusual lockdowns are, compared with other economic shocks, in how they limit being able to work and look for work.”

The relatively large increases in unemployment in these three jurisdictions resulted in large increases in their unemployment rates, rising 0.8 percentage points in NSW (to 5.4 per cent), 0.9 percentage points in Victoria (to 5.6 per cent) and 2.5 percentage points in the ACT (to 6.6 per cent).

Unemployment also increased in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, but fell in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.