Employment in Australia rose by 12,900 jobs in January, an increase of 0.1% from December, according to seasonally adjusted numbers reported Thursday by Statistics Australia. The number of jobs was up by 2.8% on a year-over-year basis.

The jobs increase was all in part-time jobs, which rose by approximately 30,000 in January, while full-time employment fell by approximately 17,000.

Queensland posted the largest increase in the number of employed people, rising by 0.7%. It was followed by Western Australia with an increase of 0.6%. The state with the largest decline in employed people was South Australia, where the number fell by 0.8%.

Australia’s unemployment rate was unchanged in January from December at 4.2%.

However, the monthly hours worked in all jobs fell by 8.8% in January, Statistics Australia reported. The large decrease was caused by more people than usual taking annual leave and sick leave in the first two weeks of January.

“Nationally, and in New South Wales and Victoria, the number of people who worked reduced hours because they were sick was around three times the pre-pandemic average for January,” said Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS. “In other states and territories, it was twice as many people.”

Jarvis continued, “Western Australia was the only jurisdiction with a usual low number of people working reduced hours in January because they were sick.”

He noted that during the pandemic, hours worked tended to be much more affected than employment.

“This reflects people working reduced or no hours, without necessarily losing their jobs,” Jarvis said.