Work participation rate returns to record high in November

Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), said that with increases in both employment (up 64,000 people) and unemployment (up 7,000 people), the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.4 per cent, while the participation rate increased to 66.8 per cent.

The participation rate for women also returned to the historical high of June, rising 0.2 of a percentage point to 62.4 per cent. For men, the participation rate also rose 0.2 of a percentage point to 71.3 per cent.

“The record-high participation rate continues to show that it is a tight labour market, especially when coupled with very low unemployment,” Mr Jarvis said.

“The employment growth in November is consistent with other labour market indicators showing continuing growth through 2022, such as payroll jobs data. Along with the continued strength in employment, hours worked are also well above pre-pandemic levels.”

Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked decreased by 0.4 per cent in November, following a 2.4 per cent increase in October.

Despite the relatively strong growth in hours worked during 2022, there continued to be a higher-than-usual number of people working reduced hours due to illness.

“In November, we saw the number of people working reduced hours due to illness increasing by 50,000, back over half a million people (520,000), which is still around a third higher than we usually see at this time of the year,” Mr Jarvis said.

The seasonally adjusted underemployment rate fell 0.1 of a percentage point to 5.8 per cent, 2.9 percentage points below the pre-pandemic rate.

“The low underutilisation rate of 9.3 per cent in November 2022 reflects the fact that there are now around 221,000 fewer unemployed people and 370,000 fewer underemployed people than in March 2020. Unemployment and underemployment are both now around two-thirds of what they were,” Mr Jarvis said.

Most of the recent net employment growth has been in full-time employment, resulting in a higher share of full-time employment than there was pre-pandemic.

“Around 68.3 per cent of employed people were full-time workers just prior to the pandemic, having generally trended down over the decades through to 2017. It has now increased to 69.7 per cent in November 2022 — around where it was close to a decade ago,” Mr Jarvis said.